Magic Online
by Mrs.InsaneOne
Summary: It has always been said that magic and technology did not mix; too bad no one ever mentioned that little fact to young Harry Potter. Add in one mad genius bent on destroying the lives of ten thousand people by trapping them inside of his online virtual reality game and you have the makings of a very dangerous brew. HP/HG
1. Theft

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out this very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am making no money whatsoever from the writing of this FanFiction._

**Warnings:** _Mild to moderate violence, character death, foul language, alternate universe (i.e. kiss HP canon goodbye), angst, drama, starts pre-Hogwarts Era, and who knows what else. _

**AN1:** _The timelines of both SAO and HP have been adjusted in order to align the storyline the way I wanted it to go. HP's timeline has been bumped forward three decades (meaning that Harry was born in the year 2010, orphaned in 2011, and due to go to Hogwarts in 2021) and SAO's timeline has been moved back three years (Kirito born in 2005 and the players trapped in SAO in 2019). Characters and players within the game will speak Japanese (except when Harry initiates a conversation in English with a player) and __**all**__ Japanese dialogue will be written in italics in order to distinguish it from Harry's spoken English – regardless of whose point of view is being used. _

_Additionally, I have placed Dudley's age as three years older than Harry; this is to make it more reasonable for Dudley to have gotten a NERDLES implanted at the start of the story since he would have only been a year younger than the cut off (those under thirteen being banned from having NERDLES implanted according to the SAO world rules. And while Vernon could probably spend any amount he wanted to get Dudley one early, I can't see a nine year old as being over looked while a very fat twelve year old might. This also gave the Dursleys more time as a family together before Harry was thrust into their life and therefore more reason for them (Dudley in particular) to resent Harry's presence._

**AN2:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

**Magic Online  
**Chapter One: Theft

_Thursday, August 15, 2019 7:45 PM_

Nine year old Harry Potter watched with undisguised shock while his heavyset twelve year old cousin, Dudley Dursley, pitched a fit as his grossly overweight uncle, Vernon Dursley, stormed in and out of the house several times hauling close to five thousand pounds (sterling) worth of brand spanking new gaming and computer equipment. Little Harry was stunned speechless that his uncle was throwing away the computer, the gaming console, the state of the art Nerve Gear, and all of the brand new (and rather expensive) games he'd purchased for his son over the past couple of months. He just couldn't believe that his uncle would take something away from his cousin after having spent so much money on the gaming system in the first place _and_ when it was patently obvious that Dudley still wanted said computer equipment.

It was unreal because Uncle Vernon _never_ denied Dudley anything. If one was to look up the definition for the phrase 'spoiled rotten' in the dictionary one would find a picture of Dudley Dursley; that was how much the boy had been spoiled. Late night snacks, late night movies, expensive toys, all day trips to amusement parks, brand new clothes, all the latest techno-gadgets; it didn't matter what it cost or how unreasonable the desire. If Dudley wanted it, then he got it; pure and simple.

What could possibly drive an overindulgent father into taking away a prized possession from his beloved son? To answer that question, one would first need to know a little history about the Dursley Family.

The Dursley family is comprised of four individuals; Vernon Dursley, his wife Petunia Dursley (née Evans), his son Dudley Dursley, and his older sister Marge Dursley. Mr. Dursley is an ordinary man with an ordinary job who loves his ordinary wife and wonderfully ordinary son. Mrs. Dursley is the perfect housewife who thinks she landed the perfect husband, knew she'd given birth to the world's most perfect boy, and she is perfectly content to spy upon her less than perfect neighbors in order to spread perfectly scandalous gossip about town. Dudley is just Dudley and he cares for nothing and thinks of no one but himself. And Miss Dursley swears her brother's family is the best family one could have and takes pleasure in gloating over how fine a boy her nephew is turning out to be.

Over all, they were a perfectly normal sort of family that was perfectly satisfied with their perfectly normal life.

Unfortunately, for the Dursleys, their perfectly normal life took a sharp turn towards the abnormal when Mrs. Dursley unexpectedly found her one and a half year old nephew, one Harry James Potter, sitting on their porch in a basket one brisk autumn morning. With the arrival of their nephew, the Dursley's normal lifestyle took a steep nosedive. For starters, normal families did not have newly orphaned relatives dropped on their doorsteps without so much as a by-your-leave with nothing but a letter telling them an estranged family member had been murdered during the night. Normal families also did not attempt to hide all evidence that said child existed.

Worse yet, in the eyes of the now no longer normal Dursley family, was the fact that the unwanted child that had been dumped upon their doorstep had been born with a rare ability. He'd been born with the ability to use magic. A freak in the eyes of the family upon whose doorstep he'd been left. An unwanted burden. A terrible secret that would ruin their lives completely should anyone learn that he was related to them.

Now, some may jump to the conclusion that the Dursleys would physically abuse the abnormal and unwanted child that they had been saddled with but the truth was that they went out of their way to avoid touching little Harry. They feared that they might contract some horrible disease if they were constantly coming into physical contact with the boy and so left him alone. That didn't stop them from tormenting him verbally, mentally, and emotionally or from threatening him with all kinds of terrible punishments any and every time something went wrong (including more than one death threat). And they tended to blame him for everything that went wrong; even if there was no possible way for him to have been involved.

The child was at least taken care of, after a fashion. They gave him food; even if it was substandard fare that fell well short of a healthy diet. They made sure he had clothes to wear; even if they were nothing but the worn out cast offs their precious son no longer wore. They provided him with a place to sleep; if one considered a small cupboard beneath the stairs a bedroom. And they sent him off to school for an education; if only to get the unnatural child out of the house for long stretches of time. As far as the Dursleys were concerned, those bare necessities were more than enough. In return, Harry was required to do a rather unrealistic number of chores in order to repay his relatives for their so called kindnesses.

He also had a very strict set of rules that he was to follow.

Never speak unless spoken to. Never answer the phone. Never answer the door. Never ask questions. Never show emotion. Never touch any of Dudley's precious things. Never take anything that belonged to the Dursleys. Never let anyone see his face outside of the house (school days the only exception and even then he had to sneak out least one of the neighbors saw him leaving the house). And above all else, never, ever speak of anything unnatural (such as magic). So long as the rules were obeyed and his chores were completed on time, the Dursleys ignored Harry (providing there was no funny business going on that could be blamed on him).

All in all, it made for a sad and lonely existence for one Harry Potter. He didn't complain, even though he had no idea what it was he'd done to make his relatives hate him so much (completely unaware of his magical heritage), because complaining would have gotten him in trouble. He couldn't remember a time when his life hadn't been the way it was now. That didn't mean he was happy with his lot in life. In fact, he hated living with the Dursleys. He couldn't bring himself to consider the Dursley's house home. And each night as he curled up beneath the stairs, he dreamed of a place he could call home.

His wish would be granted just a few weeks after his ninth birthday, on the night his entire world was shaken at the very foundations, when he watched the door slam shut behind Uncle Vernon as the man carried the last of Dudley's beloved gaming equipment out to the rubbish bins lined up beside the garage. You see, Dudley had made the mistake of bragging about the magical sword skills he'd learned in one of his games during the evening meal. The moment the word magic crossed Dudley's lips; Aunt Petunia had gone white as a sheet and nearly fainted in fear while Uncle Vernon had gone purple in rage.

The next thing Harry knew, Uncle Vernon was lugging the gaming equipment out to the garbage all the while muttering under his breath and Dudley wailing like a siren in the background. Ducking back into his tiny bedroom (least his uncle find reason to blame the entire incident on him), Harry bit his lip as he listened to Dudley's ongoing tantrum; his mind going a mile a minute as he considered doing something that could easily see him kicked out of the house (or killed if he angered his uncle enough and the man actually followed through on his threats for once). Harry was going to break a rule. He was going to steal from the Dursleys; he was going to smuggle the binned gaming equipment back into the house and he was going to keep it for himself.

Worse, his theft was going to involve the ultimate taboo in the Dursley's world; his planned theft was something that contained mentions of _magic_.

Some people would question Harry's sanity for risking his entire existence for something that clearly angered his uncle but Harry was curious. He wanted, no, _needed_ to know what was so terrible about a single game (and the one word that apparently not even his cousin was allowed to utter) that would drive his overbearing and overindulgent uncle into throwing away such costly equipment while at the same time depriving his son of a favorite possession and, as the saying goes; in for a penny, in for a pound.

With that one decision, Harry changed the path his life had been set upon and the consequences would have far reaching effects.

Later that evening, after his relatives had gone to bed, Harry snuck out to the rubbish bins to carefully retrieved each and every last piece of gaming equipment that had been tossed out while his relatives slept on; all three of them blissfully unaware of his current misbehavior. It took him over an hour and close to eight trips back and forth between his closet and the rubbish bins to transport everything to his bedroom. He spent another two hours carefully setting everything up in the smallest corner of his cupboard (with the help of the instructions, which had been thrown out with the equipment), where the ceiling dropped down close to the floor due to the stairs, and ran the cords beneath his mattress to hide them before plugging them into the unprotected socket on the opposite end of his cupboard.

Two more trips netted him a couple of cardboard boxes that one of the neighbors had thrown out, an old blanket his aunt was going to cut into dust rags, a pair of scissors, and a dusty roll of duct tape from the utility shed in the Dursley's back yard. Making as little noise as he possibly could, Harry cut up the cardboard boxes to make an accordion style door to hide everything behind; using the duct tape for hinges and to secure the door to the underside of the stairs. The door would fold up vertically and could be secured to the ceiling of the room by a carefully folded loop of tape secured between two bent nails that stuck out from the step the makeshift door had been hung from. The extra cardboard was neatly tucked beneath his worn out mattress in order to make his bed a little bit more comfortable and the cords beneath it a little less noticeable.

He then cut the blanket into thirds; one third of which he cut up further to make the rags his aunt intended to turn the blanket into. Another third of the blanket was carefully spread out over his bed so that he wouldn't have to ask for new covers from his aunt; something that he would have gotten in trouble for doing. The final third was carefully hung over the inside of his door with duct tape in such a way that it would block the seams of the door and prevent any light from escaping out of his closet. The blanket could easily be hidden by rolling it up and securing it in place above the door with a small strip of cloth and the nails that poked out of the wall.

Harry left his closet one last time to return the scissors and tape from where he'd gotten them from so they wouldn't be missed and to put the newly made rags away where they belonged so that his aunt wouldn't go searching for the missing blanket. On his way back to his room, he grabbed several alcohol wipes from the first aide kit so he could clean the equipment before he used it. When he returned to his room, he dropped the blanket down into place over his door and began taking care of his purloined gaming system.

Once he'd cleaned everything, paying close attention to the Nerve Gear out of necessity, Harry placed the spare Nerve Direct Linkage Environment System (NERDLES) that Uncle Vernon had purchased (in case the one that had been implanted in Dudley malfunctioned at some point) on the back of his neck where it met the base of his skull (as shown in the diagram of the package) completely unaware that the device was supposed to be surgically implanted. He winced as he felt the needles of the device pierce his skin but soon forgot about the pain as he slipped on the helmet unit of the Nerve Gear and powered on the device.

The device ran through a complete diagnosis of his current physical, mental, and emotional state before launching into a basic tutorial on how to use the equipment. Next he ran through a step that the system called calibration; the system requesting that he physically touch various parts of his body in order to allow the gear to learn how much he had to move his hands to reach each part; which would allow the system to accurately and smoothly portray the sensation of movement while he was within the games.

During this period, he never noticed his magic integrating the NERDLES device completely into his body and enhancing the effectiveness of the technology at the same time instead of shorting it out like it should have the moment his magic had come in contact with the active technology – not surprising since the device hadn't actually been properly activated by a surgical technician after a proper surgical implantation.

It only took about twenty minutes for Harry to learn the basics before he was testing the system using one of the many educational games that the Dursleys had purchased in the hopes that Dudley would learn from them. He quickly grew bored with that simple game though and sat up to hunt through the pile of games to find the game that Dudley had been bragging about during the meal. It didn't take him long to find the disc and just seconds later he inserted the beta release of Ken no Sekai (a game for which Uncle Vernon had shelled out nearly two thousand pounds sterling in order to purchase a copy from a Japanese client through work because Dudley had demanded a copy of the game) into the console. He wasted no time in activating the link once the Nerve Gear informed him that the software had been loaded.

He slowly muddled through the game's tutorial and built himself a cool looking avatar that looked like a far older and taller version of himself using the step by step instructions that had been thoughtfully provided with the software by the man that his uncle had purchased the software from (due to an English version of the game being unavailable). Next he was required to fill out a short questionnaire that would determine what skills he could learn during the course of his game play and what his chosen profession would be (once again relying on the provided instructions). Lastly, he selected his middle name as his penname (to keep anyone from recognizing him), leaving the rest of his profile blank for the same reason why he'd not used his first or last name.

The game then activated and he appeared in a cathedral like room that was called the Fukkatsu no Heya (Harry would quickly learn that this was the room in which a player's character would respawn if they 'died' during the game after he'd began teaching himself to read and write Japanese at the local library in order to play the game more effectively). Harry spent several minutes checking out the magnificent room before he dashed across the open floor and hurried out through the only door. A grin bloomed across Harry's face and his eyes lit up with wonder as he stared out at the rambling streets of what looked like a medieval city that he would later find out was called Hajimari no Machi. It looked nothing like the cookie-cutter rows of houses that filled the street his aunt and uncle lived on and that alone made it remarkable.

It was love at first sight.

* * *

_Saturday, November 02, 2019 9:15 AM_

Harry focused intently on washing the breakfast pans while he kept one ear open for the sound of the post being pushed through the mail slot. It had been over a month since the beta test of Sword Art Online (SAO) had ended and the official version of the game was due to go live in four days. Uncle Vernon had pre-ordered the full version of the game (through the online link located within the beta version) shortly after he purchased the beta software and several days before he'd trashed the entire system because Dudley had used the word 'magic' even though there were actually no magical skills offered in the game (Harry had looked because he wanted to see what the forbidden magic looked like).

The software should have been shipped out on the twenty-eighth of October (the shipping date announced in-game on the last day of the beta test) and Harry had been diligently checking the mail every morning since the thirtieth in the hopes of stealing it before Vernon or Dudley saw it; knowing both of the Dursley males had long since forgotten about the game. So long as he could chuck the software into his cupboard without anyone noticing, no one would ever know that he'd been the one to take the gaming equipment out of the rubbish bin nearly three months earlier.

Oh how both Dudley and Vernon had moaned and complained about that; Dudley because he'd planned to sneak it back into the house himself once his father had gone to work and Vernon because he'd been hoping to take it to the pawn shop in order to get back part of what he'd spent to purchase everything.

Harry was eager to return to the life he'd created for himself inside of the virtual reality game; a life that was nothing at all like his real life. In the game, he was Tracker James; a reclusive scavenger hunter that located rare items, plants, and creatures that he could sell or trade for goods, services, or money. He was pants at sword work (having killed himself far too many times each time he tried using a sword) and had instead learned how to make various types of traps to capture and kill the different monsters and creatures that he hunted. He'd quickly learned which of the game's equipped skills would help him survive on his own in the dungeons and had honed them during the month and a half he'd had to play the beta version.

Those skills included:

Searching: the ability to spot players, monsters, creatures, and rare items.  
Tracking: the ability to follow any player, monster, or creature.  
Listening: the ability to hear the smallest of sounds.  
Night Vision: the ability to see in the dark.  
Detection: the ability to detect hidden monsters or players and avoid ambushes.  
Hiding: the ability to avoid notice from players, monsters, and creatures that use visual tracking.  
Sprint: the ability to use extreme speed over a short distance (useful for dodging an attack or attacking when least expected).  
Fishing: allows a player to catch water-bound creatures and monsters.  
Acrobatics: an ability that can be used to dodge attacks or entertain other players.  
And Trapping: the ability to set a variety of traps in order to kill or capture any monster and creature; though it was far less effective on boss level monsters.

He had also learned a handful of unarmed skills that he'd found highly useful in getting through the game. Those skills were:

Escape: the ability to flee from a battle with an opponent that is too powerful.  
Camping: allows a player to use their equipped skills to make a safe camp in which they could rest while within a dungeon.  
Navigation: the ability to create dungeon maps in order to better navigate a dungeon.  
Scouting: the ability to locate safe zones within a dungeon – this skill was linked to the equipped skills of Tracking, Searching, and Detection.  
And Research: the ability to separate fact from rumor and dig up hard to find information – this skill was linked to the equipped skill Listening.

Outside of the game, Harry spent what time he could at the local public library looking up the meanings of the various Japanese symbols that he painstakingly copied from the game introduction and the player menu so he could memorize what they meant in order to navigate the game easier. He also looked up common phrases in Japanese so he could speak to and understand the other players when needed (his self-study sessions having continued even after the beta test was shut down).

At first glance, his character appeared to be weak but because he'd built up all of skills (both the equipped skills and the unarmed skills) to a minimum of six hundred points or higher, he was actually quite strong. He also tended to fight using his head rather than his muscles (figuratively speaking) since the only equipment he carried with him was a small dagger, a shovel, and the ropes, wires, and cables that he used for his snare traps. During the course of the game, Harry had learned quite a bit about himself as well. He found that he enjoyed the quiet solitude of the forest, disliked large crowds, hated small dark spaces, and that he loved the challenge of hunting the harder to kill game monsters.

More importantly though, was that in the six weeks he'd been playing the game, the world of Aincrad had become home to the nine year old.

Harry was pulled out of his introspection by the sound of the mail flap squeaking open and it took all of his willpower to keep the grin off his face as he heard the sound of a larger than normal package thumping to the floor. He just knew that the software he'd been waiting for had finally arrived. The Dursleys were far too engrossed in watching the television set in the dining room and eating the large meal Harry had cooked for them to pay attention to the world around them and Harry quickly dried his hands before dashing to the front door on silent feet. It took but a couple of seconds for him to collect everything from the floor and his hands fairly shook when he saw the Argus Company logo combined with the SAO logo on the thick, plastic wrapped cardboard packet that had been shoved through the slot.

Hardly daring to breathe, his heart pounding like crazy, Harry hurried to his cupboard under the stairs and shoved the package beneath his mattress before he hurried to the dining room to place the rest of the mail on the table beside his uncle. He then scampered back into the kitchen to finish washing the pots and pans so he could start on the rest of his chores; the sooner he got them finished, the sooner he could open the game to check it out. Even knowing he'd have to wait at least another four days before he could play the game didn't dampen his mood as he scrubbed diligently at the caked on eggs that stuck to the skillet he was washing.

Keeping his excitement bottled up inside was nearly impossible but it was something he had to force himself to do least the Dursleys get suspicious and search his cupboard. Still, every so often a huge grin would spread across his face for a few seconds before he wiped it from his face.

Only four more days until he could go _home_.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Fukkatsu no Heya – Room of Resurrection  
Hajimari no Machi – Starting City or Town of Beginnings  
Ken no Sekai – Sword Art Online

**Game Terminology:**

Nerve Gear – equipment created by Kayaba Akihiko (Argus); allows the user to enter FullDive  
FullDive – the use of technology to fully immerse one's conscience in a virtual reality  
NERDLES – **Ner**ve **D**irect **L**inkage **E**nvironment **S**ystem (a surgically implanted chip that allows the FullDive system to interface with the brain – the surgically implanted part may or may not be canon as it was something I thought seemed more logical than it just being part of the interface helmet)  
Respawn – a reset of the player's character after the character has 'died' within the game  
SAO – **S**word **A**rt **O**nline

* * *

Harry's Game Data/Stats (End of Beta Test):

**Classification:** Human Player  
**Level:** 23  
**HP:** 4200/4200  
**Col:** 13,345

**Main Equipment:**

Steel Shovel – Sturdy shovel used for digging traps  
Steel Cable – Extra thick wire that is difficult to break/cut and used to create traps  
Hardy Boots – Sturdy boots that make some noise and raise his defense slightly  
Leather Gloves – Sturdy gloves that protect his hands from his trap wires and cables and raise his defense slightly  
Leather Clothes – Sturdy clothes that raise his defense slightly

**Skill Slots:** 10

**Equipped Skills:** (Basic 1-250 pts, Advanced 251-500 pts, Proficient 501-750 pts, Expert 751-999 pts, & Master 1000 pts)

Acrobatics – 602  
Detection – 712  
Fishing – 653  
Hiding – 726  
Listening – 756  
Night Vision – 635  
Searching – 749  
Sprint – 798  
Tracking – 695  
Trapping – 763

**Unarmed Skills:** 5

Escape – 748  
Camping – 671  
Navigation – 604  
Scouting – 618  
Research – 642

**Notes:** To calculate the HP for any given level I used the following formula: [175(L – 1) + 350] where L = player's level and 350 represents a player's HP at level one. So, using Harry's beta level as an example; [175(23-1) + 350 = 4200]

* * *

**AN:** _Like I'd mentioned in the AN in the other chapters I posted today, this is one of the other stories that I've decided to start posting in the hopes that I can bring my muses for Banished Destiny & WWYR2 back to life by flushing the other muses in my head out of the way. I'll be throwing up at least two, maybe three other new stories that are all 2/3's complete and have at least 20+ chapters prepped for posting so you can expect at least one chapter to be posted per day, though the story being updated will change constantly. ~ Jenn_


	2. Entrapment

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out this very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am making no money whatsoever from the writing of this FanFiction._

**Warnings:** _Mild to moderate violence, character death, foul language, alternate universe (i.e. kiss HP canon goodbye), angst, drama, starts pre-Hogwarts Era, and who knows what else. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter Two: Entrapment

_Thursday, November 06, 2019 4:52 AM_

Harry was vibrating with suppressed excitement. He'd been awake for close to two hours counting down the minutes until the live version of SAO went online. He'd had his system set up for a half an hour now and was just waiting for five o'clock to arrive so that he could turn his purloined Nerve Gear on, start the game software, and Dive back into the world he saw as his true home. Less than eight minutes remained until the designated launch time and Harry had to suppress a squeal of excitement least he wake the Dursleys. The only regret he had was that the opening day had fallen on a school day which meant that he'd only have an hour and a half of uninterrupted play before his aunt would expect him to be up to make breakfast for the family.

Still, ninety minutes of blissful time spent in Aincrad would be ninety minutes of time well spent as far as Harry was concerned.

Only five minutes left now. Harry felt his cheeks start to ache due to the wide grin he was sporting as he clicked on the shortcut link to the game in order to let the software start loading as his entire being filled with anticipation. He briefly wondered if he'd run into any of the other beta testers he'd played alongside during the six weeks he'd spent exploring the beta version of the game during the short time he has that morning to play before he shrugged and promptly turned his thoughts back to the actual game. It wasn't like he'd made friends with any of the other testers anyway.

That brief bit of internal speculation had taken up another two minutes of time and Harry was pleased to see that there were less than three minutes remaining before he could go home. He activated the Nerve Gear and checked to make certain everything else was set (testing the cables and connectors for loose connections) before he put the helmet on and twisted around to lay down on his mattress; taking the time to get himself comfortable. Taking a deep breath, he watched the clock on virtual display of the helmet's screen slowly count down the final seconds before he whispered, "Link start."

An explosion of colors rushed before his eyes and then the Never Gear was syncing the new game software to his brain; testing each of his five senses and confirming his calibration settings. In less than two minutes, he was logging into the game and choosing to use his beta test character rather than starting over from scratch with a new character. The welcome screen flashed at him for a split second before an array of blue filled his vision as he was transported into the game where he soon found himself standing in the middle of a large stone courtyard in Hajimari no Machi instead of in the Fukkatsu no Heya as expected wearing his character's default outfit of brown pants, a brown and tan long sleeve shirt, leather boots, and a leather chest plate.

Harry didn't care though; he was just happy to be home.

Dozens of people began appearing on all sides in flashes of blue light and Harry quickly slipped out of the courtyard in order to avoid getting trampled on by the any of the other nine thousand, nine hundred, ninety-nine players that had purchased the game. He was leisurely walking through one of the many market places that littered the city when he was nearly run over by a black haired man wearing brown pants, long sleeved dark blue shirt, and leather armor that he briefly recalled seeing once or twice during the beta test. He'd never actually been introduced to the other guy though and chose not to chase after him; especially after he noticed another man with long pinkish red hair wearing dark brown pants, a white shirt, and leather armor chasing after him. Harry didn't need any trouble when he'd only just arrived and had so little time to reacquaint himself with the world that had become his home.

Heading to one of the less crowded market plazas, Harry found an out of the way bench where he wouldn't be bothered and took a few minutes to scan through the menu and check out his stats. He was a little sad to find that his character had been reset to level one (from level twenty-three) and that his Skill Points dropped down to one third of what they'd been at the end of the testing period but he didn't stay down for long. He was at least thankful that he'd kept his final skill set since it would have been a real pain to have to unlock each of them again; completely unaware that his acquired skills should have been completely erased and the number of open skill slots available limited to six until he unlocked more through the game.

He was also happy to discover that he still had his basic equipment in his inventory; though he pouted over the loss of his steel shovel, steel cable, and steel fishing rod that he'd acquired towards the end of the testing period. Still, it could have been worse; he might have had to spend what little money he'd been allocated as a starting fund just to buy his basic tools. Instead, he could splurge a bit and purchase a couple of potions and a transport crystal to carry with him in case he lost track of time while out in the dungeons (where log out functions were sometimes limited) and didn't have time to walk back to a safe zone to log out.

Pulling up the city map, he scanned the listing of shops in the area to find the nearest one that sold potions and crystals. Once he found what he was looking for, he sprinted there in the hopes of beating the other players that intended to stock up using what money they had; Harry wrongly thinking that everyone started with the same amount of money as he had (a small fraction of what he had collected by the end of the beta test having been transferred over and added to the starting fund all players were given) and that the other beta testers also had their original basic equipment to use. He was in luck; the non-player character (NPC) running the store had no other customers and still had a full inventory of merchandise.

While Harry was shelling out several thousand Col (the currency used in SAO) within the game; his magic was reacting to Harry's immersion into the virtual reality environment (much as it had that first night he'd used the system). This time it drew upon the complex blood wards that had been set around the Dursley's home (for both his protection and theirs) and twisted them in response to Harry's mental proclamation that the fictional world he'd just entered was his one true home (the beta version only a temporary preview and therefore had not truly been seen as home; not like the full version was in Harry's mind). It started by encasing his entire body in a protective shield that would prevent anyone from touching him and most importantly it would prevent anyone from removing the Nerve Gear from his head.

Next, his magic expanded outwards while the blood wards tied to the house sent tendrils of magic inwards to lock his cupboard from both the inside and the outside; effectively sealing Harry into his closet and sealing the door shut. As the magic moved through the house, it acted upon the deepest wishes of both Harry and the Dursleys (specifically, his aunt); to be free of each other. To that end, the magic removed all traces of Harry from the Dursleys' lives. It even went so far as to completely remove any memories they'd made of Harry throughout the seven and a half years he'd lived under their roof.

When it finished, there was no evidence anywhere in the house or in the minds of its occupants that Harry had ever existed (bar a box of forgotten belongings tucked away in the attic); even his cupboard door had disappeared despite the fact that his cupboard remained beneath the stairs. The protective magics would remain active just long enough to wipe the mind of a batty old cat lady that sometimes watched Harry for the Dursleys (when she came to check up on the child two days later after noticing that the nine year old had not walked passed her house on the way to school like usual) before going dormant until the next time they were needed.

In the game, Harry (completely unaware of the changes taking place in the real world) placed his new purchases in his inventory, thanked the NPC Clerk, and exited the store. It was time for him to find out just how much of his previous skills remained. He took a moment to set the alarm built into the player menu to go off at six fifteen (which was two-fifteen in the game since the game clock was set to Tokyo Time) so he wouldn't be late starting breakfast. He then checked his map of the city again, in order to gain his bearings, before heading towards the nearest exit so that he could enter the first floor dungeon where he could scare up a couple of monsters to test his trapping abilities on.

Stepping out onto the grasslands that surrounded Hajimari no Machi, Harry let a wide grin stretch across his face as his green eyes lit up with delight over the familiar and much loved sight of rolling hills and endless fields that filled his vision.

Letting out a whoop of excitement, Harry sprinted towards one of the lesser used fields in order to get a little privacy and plenty of space to prevent random players from falling victim to his traps. Harry quickly discovered that he could only sprint for a total of twenty-five yards at a time; meaning that he'd flash ahead in short bursts that left a streak of blurred color behind to mark his trajectory and need to stop for five seconds to reset the move before he could do it again. It was just barely fifteen yards beyond the default distance, whereas during the beta test he'd managed to extend that distance up to one hundred yards and could smoothly transition into a new sprint with a single step that made his movements appear smooth and almost continuous.

Each successful sprint would add experience points to the Sprint Skill and bring him one step closer to regaining his former level of mastery in that skill. He couldn't help but laugh out loud with each step as he felt the simulated wind rush passed his face. After a couple hundred yards, he flashed passed the two men he'd seen running through the town earlier but didn't bother to stop and say hello since it appeared they were busy facing a small group of Frenzy Boars. His loud laughter and blurred dash had drawn the attention of both men but he was long gone before they could fully register his presence.

Twenty minutes after leaving the town, Harry found a secluded corner of the field that was the perfect place to set up a couple of traps in order to determine his current mastery of the Trapping Skill. After a brief debate and a check of the time, Harry decided to test his snare building abilities first since digging a pit would be time consuming until his mastery points reached the four hundred mark. He was a bit rusty on tying the knots needed to form the snare but after practicing for about fifteen minutes, he retrained his avatar to make the appropriate movements and prompt the game to recognize his skill. As an added bonus, he gained sixty experience points towards remastering that skill as he set a total of six working snares in the immediate area.

Now he just had to lure a monster or two into the trapped section of the field and find out just how effective the snares would be. Not wanting to get killed early on in the game (since it would waste his limited time in the game by forcing him to cross the fields a second time), Harry decided that he wasn't going to draw a stampede of Frenzy Boars like he normally would have. Instead, he targeted a single Boar and coaxed it into charging at him as he slowly lured it towards his trap field. He whooped and hollered as he egged the monster on; excitement flowing through him as he lost all sense of time and reality for a moment.

The Frenzy Boar had just activated one of the snare traps when Harry's alarm went off, reminding him that he had chores waiting for him back in the real world, and he let out a groan. He did not want to return to his wretched life with the Dursleys. Grumbling under his breath about slave drivers and whiny whales disguised as pigs in suits, Harry shut off his alarm before he checked his snare trap and grinned to himself when he saw the struggling boar securely trapped. Pulling out his dagger, Harry carefully moved up behind the boar and stabbed it in the vulnerable spot at the back of the neck for the kill the moment he had a clear shot and the boar shattered in death. A small window soon popped up with a summary of the experience points, a list of items, and the small amount of Col he'd earned from the successful kill. After taking a moment to scan through the list, Harry closed out the window.

The nine year old then sighed and opened his player menu in order to log out so that he could start breakfast.

Harry frowned as he ran his finger down the available options and found the log out option missing. Knowing that his grasp of kanji wasn't all that good (though it was far better than it had been when he first joined the game during the beta test – thanks to the additional Japanese lessons he'd taken after the beta test had ended), Harry back tracked into the utility tools and toggled the written characters from kanji to romaji since the Romanized letters were much easier for him to muddle through. Once that was done, he quickly returned to the player options and tried to log out a second time; only when the last table opened he found that the log out option was still not there.

A brief check of the time showed that he still had ten minutes before his aunt would be downstairs to wake him up in order to start breakfast and he quickly attempted to call a Game Moderator (GM) in order to report the bug. When he was unable to connect to a GM, Harry tried to quell the growing panic he was feeling. He knew that there was bound to be glitches in the newly released game and knew that the bug would be taken care of as soon as they isolated the problem and applied the fix. The problem was that he only had three more minutes until his aunt would be expecting him to wake up in order to make breakfast.

If he didn't get up first, she would open the door to check on him and the moment she saw him wearing the Nerve Gear; she'd screech for his uncle who would then learn that he'd been the one to steal Dudley's gaming equipment out of the trash (the child completely unaware that his magic had taken measures to protect him from just such a situation).

Terror gripped the nine year old and he began hyperventilating as the mere thought of being discovered as a thief sent his imagination into overtime as his mind replayed all of the threats that his uncle had given to him through the years. If he didn't log out right this minute, he was as good as dead and he'd never again have the opportunity to return to the world that had become his home. Simulated tears began slipping down his face as his personal clock registered six thirty-two and he still was unable to log out. Pressing his hands over his mouth, stared at the game menu without seeing it as realization set in; his uncle was going to kill him.

Ten minutes later, when the log out option still hadn't been restored, Harry let out a scream of pure frustration mixed with sheer terror.

Numbness set in when seven o'clock (or three o'clock Tokyo/Game Time) rolled around and he was still trapped within the game. Confusion soon followed as it slowly dawned on him that no one had forcefully removed the Nerve Gear from his head in order to force him to return to reality despite the fact that another half an hour had passed. Fear soon returned as he began to suspect that the only reason the Dursleys hadn't forcefully pulled him from the game was because they were waiting to see how long it took him to exit on his own. And the longer he remained in game, the harsher his punishment was going to be.

_He was really going to die_.

The numbness returned when the clock displayed the time as eight-fifteen (or four-fifteen Tokyo/Game Time). He was now well over an hour and a half late and the log out option had still not been repaired. Overwhelmed by the knowledge that his life had been ruined by a glitch in the game, Harry blindly made his way back towards Hajimari no Machi. It took him well over an hour to cross the fields he'd sprinted through earlier; the disguised nine year old traveling at a snail's pace as his mind focused firmly on what he believed was his pending death. He was just passing the same pair of men he'd seen earlier when they discovered the bug that had ruined Harry's entire life and the red-headed man's yells pulled Harry out of his daze.

"_Return! Log out! Escape!_*"

Harry stopped and watched the man's antics for several minutes; most of his words not making any sense to Harry because the man was speaking Japanese so fast that Harry couldn't understand him. The brunette on the other hand was trying to stay calm but Harry could see the man's eyes reflecting the concern that had gripped Harry when he'd first discovered the missing log out option. He had just shaken himself out of his stupor and prepared to continue walking when the brunette asked the redhead a question that immediately drew Harry's attention back to their conversation as he picked up more than a few familiar words.

"_Don't you think it's weird?*_"

"_Well sure. Since it's a bug,*_" the redhead replied calmly with a negligent shrug of the shoulders.

"It's not just a stupid bug," Harry yelled; the nine year old suddenly and unreasonably angry that the man could be so cavalier about the glitch that spelled the end of Harry's entire world. "A stupid bug would have been fixed **hours** ago!"

"Huh? What was that?" the redhead asked in confusion as he spun around to glance at Harry.

"What do you mean, 'hours ago'?" the brunette demanded with a frown at the same time; both men thankfully speaking English in response to Harry's use of the language (making it easier for the nine year old to understand their questions).

"I've been trying to log out for…" Harry started to reply only for the rest of his words to be cut off when the loud ringing of a bell cut through the entire field. Shortly after the ringing echoes faded, he was engulfed in the blue light of a forced teleportation and he half feared and half hoped that that meant that the glitch had been fixed and he was now exiting the game.

No such luck.

The moment the light cleared, Harry found himself back in Hajimari no Machi, standing in the middle of the large stone courtyard where he'd first appeared when he'd logged into the game four and a half hours earlier alongside hundreds of other players. On the opposite side of the courtyard from him, two more pillars of blue light deposited the two men he'd been talking to just a few minutes earlier. Thousands more pillars of blue light deposited other individuals in the area until Harry imagined that every single player in the game had been forcefully brought to the large area.

When the last transport glow faded, the sky turned red as hundreds of flashing tags blocked out the sky as they declared that a system announcement was about to take place. Shortly after the last patch of blue sky vanished behind one of the tags, a figure poured out of the cracks between the flashing tags to tower over the gathered players. The moment it was fully formed it began speaking.

The next twenty minutes would irrevocably change the lives of every single player in the game.

Harry didn't understand most of what was being said by the intimidating, larger-than-life figure hovering in the sky above the plaza; he was not using any of the common phrases that Harry had learned and the muttering going on all around him made it harder to concentrate. He knew it must be bad though, because he could see a number of the players all around him starting to panic or grow angry and more than a few people started screaming what sounded like threats or curses at the figure in the sky. His confusion over the current situation only grew when he noticed everyone around him suddenly opening up their inventories and taking out identical mirrors in response to something the figure had said.

He was just considering looking in his inventory to see if he had one of the mirrors as well when white pillars of light began engulfing the other players. Uncertain about what was happening now, Harry watched as the flashes of white light transformed each player; some completely changing (a few young girls even turning into old men) while others just had minor changes done to their avatars. When no pillar of light encompassed him, Harry suspected that the light was somehow connected to the mirrors (because the players weren't engulfed in the strange light until they were touching the mirrors) and he closed out his menu without even looking inside of his inventory because it appeared that the change was painful given the higher number of people that were now yelling and panicking.

The apparition in the sky spoke one last time at that point before it melted back into the flashing background of the warning tags and the crowd began panicking once again.

Harry carefully made his way clear of the crowd that was growing rowdier by the second and hid behind a stack of crates in a nearby alley as he tried to figure out what had just happened. He was just contemplating whether or not he should ask another player about what had just happened when a brunette teen wearing an outfit similar to the brunette man he'd spoken to earlier dragged an older, scruffy looking man (who was wearing the same clothes as the redhead from earlier) into the alley.

The nine year old held his breath and canted his head to the side to activate his Listening Skill as the pair held a short conversation. Any hopes he had of getting a better understanding of the situation were dashed when the conversation just served to confuse Harry further since he only managed to understand one in three words spoken before the teen vanished and the man returned to the courtyard.

It would take Harry two days of eavesdropping in the various market places to learn that Kayaba Akihiko had trapped ten thousand people inside of the game and that the mirrors every one had taken out of their inventory had stripped all of the players of their artificial avatars, forcing them to appear in the game much as they did in real life. It was another three days before he learned that an in game death equated to death in real life and that there were no second chances within the game; if you died, you were dead and nothing was going to bring you back. By the end of the first week, Harry had learned that over four hundred people had supposedly died but most people weren't taking the deaths seriously because they still thought it was all some big joke.

When the truth of their situation finally sank in alongside the realization that they were really well and truly trapped, many people gave into their despair. Not Harry though. Once Harry learned that he'd never have to leave Aincrad (at least not until someone cleared the final level), all of his worries and fears faded away. He was home and no one could make him leave.

He worried that his aunt and uncle would forcibly remove the Nerve Gear, killing him in the process, but soon realized they would have already done so if they'd been able to. That, or they'd already killed his body and his soul would live on indefinitely within the game until his avatar was killed.

Harry didn't care.

All that mattered now was that he was home and he was free.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Fukkatsu no Heya – Room of Resurrection  
Hajimari no Machi – Starting City or Town of Beginnings  
Ken no Sekai – Sword Art Online

**Game Terminology:**

Nerve Gear – equipment created by Kayaba Akihiko (Argus); allows the user to enter FullDive  
Dive – short for FullDive  
Dungeon – an area within the game where players can attack or be attacked by monsters (or other players)  
Experience Points – the points earned for each quest completed and each monster killed  
FullDive – the use of technology to fully immerse one's conscience in a virtual reality  
GM – **G**ame **M**oderator  
NERDLES – **Ner**ve **D**irect **L**inkage **E**nvironment **S**ystem (a surgically implanted chip that allows the FullDive system to interface with the brain – the surgically implanted part may or may not be canon as it was something I thought seemed more logical than it just being part of the interface helmet)  
NPC – **N**on-**P**layer **C**haracter  
Respawn – a reset of the player's character after the character has 'died' within the game  
SAO – **S**word **A**rt **O**nline  
Skill Points – Experience points that are applied towards mastery of an in game skill

**Notes: **

* 1st and 3rd Quote by Klein from episode one of the anime and chap two of the on-line light novel series.  
* 2nd Quote by Kirito from episode one of the anime and chap two of the on-line light novel series.

* * *

Harry's Game Data/Stats (Start of Game):

**Classification:** Human Player  
**Level:** 1  
**HP:** 350/350  
**Col:** 8,500 (5000 carried over from Beta)

**Main Equipment:**

Basic Shovel – Shovel used for digging traps – very weak and easily broken  
Rope – Rope made from plant fibers used to create traps – easily cut  
Boots – simple boots that make lots of noise  
Standard Clothes – Basic clothing with no special capabilities

**Skill Slots:** 10 (four extra slots carried over from Beta Test)

**Equipped Skills:** (Basic 1-250 pts, Advanced 251-500 pts, Proficient 501-750 pts, Expert 751-999 pts, & Master 1000 pts)

Acrobatics – 201  
Detection – 237  
Fishing – 218  
Hiding – 242  
Listening – 252  
Night Vision – 212  
Searching – 250  
Sprint – 266  
Tracking – 232  
Trapping – 254

**Unarmed Skills:** 5

Escape – 249  
Camping – 224  
Navigation – 201  
Scouting – 206  
Research – 214

**Notes:** To calculate the HP for any given level I used the following formula: [175(L – 1) + 350] where L = player's level and 350 represents a player's HP at level one. So, using Harry's beta level (23) as an example; [175(23-1) + 350 = 4200]

* * *

**AN: **_For those of you who don't follow my Author's Page, the reason I was not posting as promised was due to another hard drive failure; this time it was my main drive that crashed on me and not my document drive; so I didn't not lose anything but a chapter worth of edit's that I had made. During the time I was without internet (because the old XP drive I snagged from my husband's old PC had a conniption fit over my on board Ethernet, video card, & sound card), I at least was able to edit stuff and write a bit more; so I've got tons of chapters that are ready to be posted._

_I meant to start posting just as soon as I was back online but I had thousands of e-mails I needed to get through, bookmarks to recapture, and a dozen and one other things that just had to be done (like updating my Firefox dictionary so it would stop telling me I was spelling everything wrong; that was annoying). From this point forward, I will endeavor to post the minimum one chapter per day that I had previously promised as soon as I finish setting up all of my settings and whatnot that were lost when my drive crashed; that includes digging out all of my program discs so that I can reinstall the rest of my programs. As before, the story being updated will vary from day to day._

_Lastly, I want to thank everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, and followed this story and the other new ones I recently posted. And while I've not finished reading all of the reviews I've received because I just haven't had the time, I do appreciate each and every one. I will try to go back and respond or at least read them just as soon as I have time. ~ Jenn_


	3. Experience

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out this very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am making no money whatsoever from the writing of this FanFiction._

**Warnings:** _Mild to moderate violence, character death, foul language, alternate universe (i.e. kiss HP canon goodbye), angst, drama, starts pre-Hogwarts Era, and who knows what else. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter Three: Experience

_Friday, November 14, 2019 7:00 AM_

Harry covered up a yawn as he stepped out of the town for the first time since the day of the game's launch. The players had now been trapped in the game for a little over a week and the despair was really starting to set in for those that were only just now realizing that there was no use pretending that this wasn't happening. Quite a few people had died during those first nine days and that only made matters worse for those who were unhappy with their lot once it really sunk in that those that died in the game weren't going to be regenerated. Harry had spent that time improving his grasp of spoken Japanese (by using his Listening Skill to eavesdrop which also gained him Skill Points) and gathering as much information about what was happening within the game as he could.

He was now ready to strike out on his own so that he could focus on training without worrying about anyone discovering that he'd been one of the one thousand beta testers (technically he was number one thousand two – Dudley having been number one thousand one). Beta testers had quickly become outcasts within the game due to the fact that they had inside knowledge about the game and that so few of them were willing to share that knowledge with the other players. There was also the fact that he was still wearing his created avatar (having deleted the gifted mirror the first chance he got without touching it so as to avoid being uncovered as a child in the game) and he feared someone would figure that out and accuse him of cheating because no one else (that he knew of) still hid behind an avatar.

A quick look around the fields surrounding Hajimari no Machi revealed hundreds of players attacking the Frenzy Boars in the area in an effort to level up; more than a few yelling matches breaking out when one player poached another player's boar at the last minute. Shaking his head, Harry activated his Sprint Skill and dashed off in the direction of the out of the way corner where he'd set up his traps that first day. As he traveled, Harry was pleased to discover that his sprinting distance had increased from twenty-five yards to fifty yards and hoped that meant that it wouldn't be long before he was performing on his previous mastery level for that skill.

Upon reaching his hidden corner of the field, Harry took a moment to inspect the area for other players before he began digging a pit trap. It took him four hours to make the pit deep enough and wide enough to hold up to three Frenzy Boars; he would need to gain more Skill Points before he could move more than a few inches of 'dirt' with each swing of the shovel. He would have liked to have filled the bottom of the floor with sharpened wooden stakes in order to obtain easy kills but he needed to have at least five hundred skill points before he could create lethal pit traps. Trap set, Harry went searching for a small herd of Frenzy Boar that he could lure into the trap; gaining Skill Points for both the Tracking and Searching Skills.

At the end of the day, Harry had amassed over four hundred Experience Points, gathered eight items, earned several hundred Col, increased the number of Skill Points in half of his equipped skills and a couple of his unarmed skills, and gained two levels. Overall it was a profitable day for the nine year old and he was looking forward to doing the same thing again the following day. He spent the last forty-five minutes of daylight in the game setting up camp in a small copse of trees quite some distance from his pit trap; taking the time to trap the perimeter in order to avoid getting caught by wandering monsters during the night. Using his rope, he set the knots to create a hammock high up in the branches so that he could sleep out of reach of predators and players alike (after checking to make certain the tree wasn't home to any of the game's flying monsters).

Harry then spent another three hours practicing his limited Night Vision and Listening Skills while he nibbled on a loaf of bread he'd purchased prior to leaving the village safely hidden behind the foliage of the copse. Twice he had to climb down and dispose of Ravenous Wolves that had walked into his traps; the nocturnal monsters drawn to the copse by his scent. He could have just left them but then they'd draw additional wolves and he'd lose Skill Points if his traps broke and the wolves escaped because he left the monsters tangled in them. He drifted off to sleep around nine in the evening, secure in the knowledge that his traps would protect him and that the sound of the traps activating would wake him.

Harry woke with the rising of the sun (at exactly five-thirty in the morning like every morning prior – having long since changed over to the in-game clock rather than remain on real time due to the awkwardness of the time difference since the game day/night cycle coincided with the game's clock) and stretched out his sleep cramped muscles as he listened to the surrounding area for any threats. He then set about dismantling his traps and unraveling his hammock so he could return to his pit trap in order to spend another day leveling up and gathering items to sell back in the market (so far he'd acquired boar tusks, boar meat, boar hide, wolf hide, and wolf teeth in addition to a bronze dagger).

On the way back to his secluded section of the field, he stumbled across a nest of Vicious Vipers and spent a half an hour fighting against the six venomous monsters. Grumbling over how much of a nuisance the legless monsters were, Harry barely bothered to read through the experience windows from all six creatures before he continued on his way. Upon reaching his pit trap, the nine year old discovered that he'd caught another pair of wolves during the night and the two monsters had half ruined the bottom of the trap in their efforts to escape (though they'd obviously failed seeing as how they were still there).

The wolves proved a bit more difficult to snare and remove from the trap than the Frenzy Boars from the day before and by the time he'd dealt with both creatures, Harry was in a foul mood. The only good thing was that he received double the amount of Trapping Skill Points for successfully holding the wolves in a trap for five hours and he had reached level four. That meant he now only needed another one hundred and twenty points in order to unlock the lethal pit trap (having unlocked the hangman's snare already, bringing his current trap arsenal up to three).

Sighing, Harry spent an hour repairing his pit trap (enlarging it and making it deeper so that it could hold a higher number of boars and would do more damage when they dropped). He then scampered off to track down his next group of prey.

The rest of the day was spent tracking and killing monsters. He faced at least a dozen Frenzy Boars, another two nests of Vicious Vipers, a pack of Ravenous Wolves he'd disturbed while luring a larger than normal boar towards his trap, and at least six Plains Vultures that had been attracted by his activities of the past two days. He had gained both the spike trap (the lethal pit trap) and the net trap (to catch airborne prey) and his trap efficiency had improved dramatically as he reached the five hundred mark in Skill Points.

His Tracking, Searching, Scouting, and Navigation Skills had steadily improved throughout the day as well, as did his Sprint, Escape, and Camping Skills. He still needed to work on his Acrobatics, Detection, Fishing, Hiding, and Research Skills though; since those five had gained the fewest number of Skill Points over the past two days (Research only possible to master by Listening to the gossip and rumors spread by other players and NPCs within the game or reading through rare tombs found in hidden treasure chests and collected from obscure quests).

A quick check of his inventory told him that he was going to have to cut his camping trip short a couple of days as he didn't really have much room left in his Inventory and the last thing he wanted to do was waste any Items. So, Harry dismantled the last of his traps (filling in the pit he'd dug and unraveling his snares) and sprinted back to the city while there was still plenty of daylight left. He arrived in Hajimari no Machi with the setting of the sun and he headed directly to the inn that he'd stayed at during his first week in the game.

He purchased a hot meal and booked a room for the night within minutes of entering the bustling pub that was part of the inn. He took his time to enjoy his first hot meal in two days (he had only packed bread for his camping trip since he had no in-game cooking skills). As he ate, he listened to the conversations of the other players and was disturbed to learn that another hundred people had died during the two days he'd been gone. He nearly cringed when he learned that two beta testers had been driven out of town by angry mobs and actually scowled when he heard that the Aincrad Liberation Force (ALF) was forcefully drafting any solo players and small guild members that reached level five into their guild (for their protection, of course).

Thankfully, he was still at level four (just barely; the number of Experience Points needed to reach the next level almost doubling with each successful level increase) and he fully intended to head towards the next town before he could be forced to join the guild just as soon as he sold his surplus items and stocked up on trap supplies and food. There was a chance that there would be members of the ALF drafting stronger players in the next town too but because the largest concentration of players could still be found around Hajimari no Machi, he seriously doubted there would be as many recruiters in the other villages as there were in Hajimari no Machi.

Pushing the matter out of his mind (since he was confident that he could avoid the members of ALF long enough to sneak off into the nearest dungeon), Harry finished his stew before heading up to his room to take a bath and get some rest. After a long soak in the tub, the nine year old reveling in the simulated sensation of floating in a tub of hot water, Harry changed into a set of pajamas and checked the locks on both the door and the windows before crawling into bed. After two days spent working his avatar to the bone (figuratively speaking), Harry was asleep before his head touched the pillow.

The nine year old was once again up with the sun the next morning but unlike most mornings, he didn't immediately jump out of bed to start the day. Prior to getting himself trapped in the online gaming world that he considered his true home, Harry had never had the chance to enjoy the simple pleasures in life; such as lying abed in the morning, eating his fill, or playing around all day long just doing what he wanted to do. It was such a novel experience that he tended to take the time to enjoy his new found freedom to the fullest every chance he got; even after being trapped inside the game for twelve days.

Sighing in contentment, Harry opened up his Inventory and began sorting through his Items to determine what he wanted to sell, what he would need to keep, and what could be used to trade for those Items that can't be bought. Once he was finished with that, he spent an hour pouring over the city map in order to locate a player merchant who might be willing to purchase his Items. He wished to avoid selling to the NPC stores because they only purchased Items for set amounts that were far below their worth; regardless of their quality. Once he had noted three likely looking merchants, he spent two hours working on his Acrobatic Skills; one of the few skills he could gain points for while in the city (Listening, Night Vision, Searching, and Research the other four he had).

It was just after ten in the morning when Harry decided he'd procrastinated long enough. He quickly gathered up anything he'd taken off during the night and double checked his Inventory to make certain he hadn't forgotten anything. He then made his way downstairs and checked out of his room before he headed off to the market place where the first player merchant had set up a stall. It didn't take him long to find the stall and he grimaced when he noted the large crowd of players hovering around the woman that was running the stall.

Since he had no desire to join the crowd or stick around waiting for the other players to leave, Harry immediately pulled up his map to find the shortest route to the next player run shop. Two minutes later, he was once against moving through the streets of the town as he steadily dodged around the other players on the street. Harry had a little trouble finding the stall in question (it had been set up in one of the less traveled sections of the town) and he was pleased to note that there were not many people currently hovering around the stall (most of the players still in town currently out in the fields looking to level up or visiting the more visible shops and stalls).

Harry took a moment to study the man running the stall; a tall black man with broad shoulders and plenty of muscle visible through his skintight sleeveless shirt and armor chest plate. The man was bald with a short cropped goatee and twin cuffs clipped to his left ear and while his overall appearance was intimidating, his face held an open sort of kindness in it that Harry had rarely ever seen in real life. The double handed axe strapped to his back spoke of experience and completed the warrior look that the man embodied. Nodding to himself, Harry decided to see if the man was as honest as he appeared to be or if it was nothing but a fake front to draw in unsuspecting customers.

"_Good morning, sir,_" Harry greeted carefully as he finally approached the merchant after the last customer had finished her business and left the area, taking care not to mangle the words too terribly so as not to offend the man. "_Are you interest in buy items?_"

"_Japanese is not your native language is it?_" the man retorted with a ready grin while Harry grimaced over the revelation that he'd mangled his request despite the care he'd taken.

"_Sorry. Guilty,_" Harry laughed ruefully as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "_Am still learn speak._"

The man laughed with him for a moment before asking, "_Why don't you tell me what language you usually speak?_"

"English," Harry replied hopefully; he had no issues with learning to speak Japanese but finding another who also spoke English would make life so much easier until he got a better grasp of the language.

"You're in luck; I'm fluent in English as well as Japanese, Spanish, and Italian. You can call me, Agil."

"I'm James, and you just made my day, Mr. Agil, I've been trying to learn more Japanese since I got here but it's not easy without an internet connection or a handy dictionary."

"It's just Agil; no mister needed young man. And I am always willing to help out a fellow player," Agil countered as he held his hand out in greeting. "Now, I believe you mentioned something about having goods for sale? What items do you have and what is their quality rating?"

"Sorry, old habit," Harry replied as he shyly shook the man's hand and tentatively returned the smile that Agil had flashed at him. "And I have a bunch of monster meats, hides, teeth, claws, and feathers and some common weapons that I don't need. I want to sell most of it but I don't mind trading if you have anything I need."

"Anything in particular that you are looking for?"

"Yes; I need sturdy ropes, steel wire, a steel shovel, a sturdy fishing rod, sturdy boots, and some durable leather gloves. I also need a steel dagger if you have one. If not, an iron dagger would be better than what I have."

"What? No weapons or armor? What good is a dagger or a shovel going to do you when you stumble on a nest of monsters?"

"I use traps and pay close attention to where I'm going," Harry confessed with a shrug. "I've done alright for the most part and once I know where a monster's weak spot is, it is easy to kill them once they are caught in my traps."

"Interesting, I didn't think trapping would be as effective as a good axe or decent sword in dealing damage to the local monsters. Let's see what you have then."

Harry nodded and complied with the request as he opened up his Inventory and initiated the trade option. Agil let out an impressed whistle when he saw that the quality of the goods Harry was looking to sell or trade were fifteen and twenty points higher than most other players had brought in over the past few days; the game logic awarded better quality Items when players used the more risky skills to kill the monsters. Even the meat was of a better quality and still relatively fresh and therefore far easier to resale. The two of them haggled over prices for a few minutes (neither of them having a high Sales or Purchase Negotiation Skill at the moment, though Agil had the advantage as a merchant) before goods and money changed hands.

"If you pick up anything else worthwhile, look me up," Agil insisted as they shook hands at the end of the trade.

"I will," Harry replied enthusiastically at the thought of having someone willing to buy more items from him.

"If you want, I can also help you with your Japanese."

"Oh, you don't have to trouble yourself on my account; I'm sure I can muddle through on my own."

"It won't be any trouble; I want to help you."

"I wouldn't want to be a burden."

"Helping you to improve your grasp of Japanese would not be a burden. Knowing how to speak, read, and write the language fluently so that you can communicate with the other players could very well mean the difference between life and death in this cursed game."

"I don't know… It's really nice of you to offer but I'm leaving town today…"

"If you are willing to add me to your Friend List, we can easily use the in-game messenger for most of the lessons so you don't have to stick around town if you'd rather be out gaining experience."

"I…"

"Please don't say no, I'd forever worry about you if you don't take me up on my offer. If it will make you feel better, I'll even accept payment for the lessons either in cash or in Items. That way you don't have to see my offer as charity."

"I… but… alright," Harry replied as the man held his gaze with dark eyes filled with sincerity, open concern, and a hint of pure stubbornness that told Harry the man wasn't going to let him walk away until he agreed.

The moment he accepted the offer, the man beamed at him once more as he opened up his menu and sent Harry a Friend Request. The nine year old felt a measure of relief as he accepted the request and sent one back in return, part of him well aware that it would be far harder to navigate the game without a better grasp on the language. The two of them parted ways at that point and Harry waved to the man one last time before he left the market and headed to the nearest NPC shop in order to pick up those items that Agil had not had in stock.

There was a new spring in his step as he wandered through the town; he'd made a pretty penny off the sale and traded for some high quality items (even if they were just common low-level Items). He also had made a potential client for future jobs which was a far better prospect than just collecting whatever he could and hoping he could find someone that would buy the stuff from him. That the man was willing to help him learn how to speak Japanese fluently was only an added bonus since that was one skill he couldn't really learn through the course of the game alone (though he had picked up a bit by Listening). Not that the man had actually given him much of a choice in the matter.

The child in disguise paused with his hand on the door to the shop he was about to enter as he realized he'd just made his first ever friend; no one else had ever asked to be placed on his Friend List (or if they had asked, he'd not understood their request at the time). Nor had anyone ever before insisted on helping him. A lump formed in his throat and the back of his eyes stung as a strong wave of emotion passed through him at that thought. He'd never had a friend before. The other children at school had always ignored him and he wasn't allowed outside once he got home. He'd also been far too shy during the beta test to talk to any of the players beyond the basics needed for trades; part of which was due to the fact that he didn't know much of the language when he first started.

It was an accomplishment that had been far easier than he'd ever imagined it would be and it was a reaffirmation that this world was his true home.

Feeling even better now, Harry let a true smile form on his face as he opened the door to the shop and stepped inside so he could finish buying his supplies. Ten minutes later, he was back outside and heading towards the town gate that opened up onto the road leading towards the next town. He couldn't keep the grin off his face or the slight bounce out of his step as he crossed the town; his emotions running on an all time high that could be equated to a sugar rush in a normal child. Harry was so wrapped up in his good mood that he failed to see the trouble that was brewing at the exit gate.

"_Halt!_" a sharp voice ordered quite unexpectedly; bringing Harry out of his happy daydream.

Harry frowned and scowled at the brute of a man that was suddenly blocking his path. He had brownish orange hair that was mostly slicked back with several spikes sticking out; almost like the horns on a dinosaur. He was dressed in dull grays, browns, and off whites with leather chest piece over top and the handle of a sword sticking up over his right shoulder. Harry disliked the man's angry brown eyes the most and he just knew the guy was going to cause trouble.

"_No one under level ten may pass through this gate_," the man pompously declared as he looked down his nose at Harry (even though they were roughly the same height thanks to Harry's avatar). "_You are also required to register with the Aincrad Liberation Force since you're close to reaching level five._"

Harry arched an eyebrow and leaned around the man to glance down the road that led to the next town. He then stood back and studied the man that was blocking his way and telling him how to play the game. The man reminded Harry of Dudley. With that comparison firmly in mind, Harry shrugged his shoulders and turned around to walk away from the gate while keeping an eye on the people milling around the exit. The moment he had a clear path through the gate, Harry spun around on his heel and pushed up onto the balls of his feet before activating his Sprint.

The disguised nine year old moved passed the man in the blink of an eye before the man even suspected what he was about to do. Harry paused on the road just long enough to give the now fuming man a jaunty salute before dashing off down the road while more than a few witnesses (who'd also been blocked from leaving) laughed themselves silly over how easily Harry had gotten one over on the bully blocking the gate. A few of them even slipped out of town while the guard was distracted by Harry's cheeky departure.

Once he was certain the bonehead hadn't given chase, Harry dropped his Sprint and focused on his Listening and Detection Skills in order to avoid any ambushes. His earlier feeling of contentment returned tenfold as he slipped beneath the canopy of limbs and leaves created by the trees that lined the road and the grin was soon back on his face as he cataloged each and every glowing green footprint that crossed the road within the last two hours once he activated his Tracking Skill.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Fukkatsu no Heya – Room of Resurrection  
Hajimari no Machi – Starting City or Town of Beginnings  
Ken no Sekai – Sword Art Online

**Game Terminology:**

ALF – **A**incrad **L**iberation **F**orce later called The Army by the in-game players  
Dungeon – an area within the game where players can attack or be attacked by monsters (or other players)  
Experience Points – the points earned for each quest completed and each monster killed  
Guild – group of players that work together for a common goal  
HP – **H**it **P**oints: the number of Life Force/Life Points/Health Points a person has  
NPC – **N**on-**P**layer **C**haracter  
SAO – **S**word **A**rt **O**nline  
Skill Points – Experience points that are applied towards mastery of an in game skill

* * *

**AN:** _Ah! Running two days late… well, at least this time it isn't two months late. =) I guess that means I'll just have to toss up another couple of updates as scheduled later tonight. ~ Jenn  
_


	4. Disenchantment

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out this very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am making no money whatsoever from the writing of this FanFiction._

**Warnings:** _Mild to moderate violence, character death, foul language, alternate universe (i.e. kiss HP canon goodbye), angst, drama, starts pre-Hogwarts Era, and who knows what else. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter Four: Disenchantment

_Sunday, December 21, 2019 2:45 PM_

Harry thought there was nothing that could bring him down.

After six weeks in the game, he'd surpassed his beta stats by leaps and bounds because he'd learned from the mistakes he'd made in the beta version and the fact that he'd not needed to leave the game for any reason. One more kill or a measly seventy-five Experience Points would see him reaching level thirty (he'd only reached level twenty-three in the beta test). He'd also mastered four skills within the last week (Tracking, Trapping, Camping, and Escape) and was well on his way to mastering another five (Night Vision, Sprint, Searching, Fishing, and Scouting). His other skills were all in the high six hundreds or low seven hundreds after he'd spent a considerable amount of time earning Skill Points in order to improve his effectiveness while in the dungeons hunting for specific monsters, creatures, or treasures.

His reputation as an honest guide and skilled tracker had grown considerably as well (also surpassing the reputation he'd earned in the beta test); thanks to Agil, when the friendly merchant had taken Harry under his wing after their first trade. The man had also followed through on his promise to see to it that Harry learned enough Japanese to communicate with most of the players as long as they didn't talk too fast (most of those lessons taking place through the in-game messenger system while the man tested him each time they met up in person once a week). In return, Harry kept the man supplied with uncommon and rare Items for very reasonable rates and often hunted down difficult to find Items whenever the man found a lead on something new.

When he wasn't hunting down Items for Agil, Harry was off in the various dungeons within the first three floors of Aincrad leveling up and hunting out the harder to kill monsters in order to learn more about them or guiding another player that had hired his services (most of his clients coming from contacts that Agil knew). He was on just one such job at the moment; playing guide and tracker for a small guild that wished to obtain a hard to find plant that was one of the main ingredients required to create a more powerful healing potion.

The plant was known to be guarded by packs of nasty little monsters called Fanged Furgrin; they were a cross between a squirrel and a troll with huge razor sharp canines that reminded Harry of a saber-toothed tiger. They stood at about three feet tall, had mossy brown and green fur that blended into the bark of the surrounding trees, and glowing red eyes that creeped Harry out for some odd reason that escaped him. During the winter months their fur developed patches of white to better blend in with the ice and snow that clung to the trees.

The nine year old had already killed three of the menaces with his snares and his clients had killed another four. There were only six more left and one of them was the boss; Foulnor Furgrin the Fanged. Harry left the boss monster for the guild he was escorting to deal with as he led the five underlings towards his last trap; Harry's traps were far less effective against the boss monsters due to the rules of the game. Harry whooped and hollered with abandon as the five creatures tore after him through the underbrush that filled the forest; his entire being filled with excitement and anticipation.

Ten more steps and Harry activated Sprint to jump over the disguised spiked pit trap he'd set up earlier. The five Furgrin ran right onto the flimsy cover of snow, twigs, and leaves and crashed beneath the surface a heartbeat later and Harry whooped again as he watched five Experience Point windows open as all five Furgrin were confirmed dead and his player level rose to thirty. Laughing over the perfectly executed lure and trap, Harry checked to make certain there were no other monsters in the area before he set about disabling the trap.

It was at that point that everything went wrong.

The first sign Harry had that something wasn't right was a spike of blinding pain stabbing into his skull approximately where his lightning bolt scar sat on his real body. Harry paused and rubbed at his head before shaking off the pain and returned to filling in the trap. Just a few seconds later, the pain returned sharper than before to pierce him behind his scar again and at the base of his skull (where he had placed the extra NERDLES device several months earlier) at the same time and he staggered drunkenly as the shock of it took his breath away.

Icy cold tendrils of fear filled Harry as he had never before felt true pain within the game. Just as quickly as the pain came, it vanished and left Harry panting as he supported himself up against a tree. The next two minutes passed by with agonizing slowness as he slowly tried to convince himself that the pain had just been his imagination. He had just about succeeded in writing off the entire thing as a daydream when a warning message appeared above his head and began flashing as it declared him an unstable element.

Two seconds later, his entire body was engulfed in burning pain while it felt as if his heart had exploded outwards. Harry took two steps away from the tree, dropped down onto his knees and let loose a scream of pure agony as it felt like his entire body was being ripped apart from the inside out. The seven members of the guild he'd been assisting came rushing to his aide just a few minutes later only to stumble to a stop as they watched him burst into a shower of red crystal shards with the sound of breaking glass.

And still he felt pain.

Instead of vanishing like the other avatars and players that died though, Harry's body was reconstructed piece by piece while the pain continued to tear him apart inside and out. His clients continued to stare at him, their expressions now filled with a mixture of disbelief and horror as he reached out to them in supplication. The leader of the guild stepped forward on shaky feet but before he could touch Harry's hand, the nine year old's avatar shattered yet again. Over and over again his body would explode in a crash of breaking glass only to be painstakingly rebuilt back out of the pieces before the cycle began again.

After the fourth time, his clients ran away in terror and Harry was left alone with the agony that had engulfed him.

In the real world, Harry's body convulsed inside of his hidden sanctuary as his magic forcefully pushed his soul from his body and integrated it into the game, using the NERDLES as a bridge, in order to prevent him from dying as his body began failing due to six weeks of neglect (his magic no longer able to keep him alive without food, water, or proper rest). While Harry's internal magic worked to protect his soul, the protective magic in the blood wards began locking his body into stasis inch by inch (starting at his feet) in order to prevent his body from decaying once his soul had been removed.

Locked behind a bubble of dark magic buried beneath the lightning bolt scar on his forehead, the sliver of Voldemort's soul that had latched onto him the night his parents were murdered cursed and screamed as the combined magics that were trying to save the boy slowly killed the soul piece at the same time.

It took six long hours for magic to preserve Harry's nine year old body and integrate his soul into the virtual reality world he'd been trapped inside; six agonizing hours in which Harry physically, mentally, and spiritually suffered endlessly. The accidental horcrux never stood a chance against the protection of the combined magics and the moment Harry's brain was preserved (which coincided with the completion of his integration into the system) the remains of that sliver of Voldemort's soul was forcibly shoved out of Harry's scar and into his cupboard where it was promptly shredded by the blood wards.

Inside of the game, Harry's avatar had continued to shatter and reconstruct itself throughout the entire integration and preservation process that his body and soul had undergone. Each time his body was reassembled, his digital body became just a little more lifelike and grew just a little more accurate when it came to his physical appearance until there was no difference between his avatar and his current physical self. When the torture finally ended, Harry lay curled up in a fetal position with his face buried into the frozen snow that covered the ground as he sobbed hoarsely (his throat raw from screaming) in response to the sudden lessening of pain.

It took another hour before he found the strength to push himself up off the floor and the moment his body was upright he was forced to roll forward as he vomited up blood. He stared at the red liquid that had poured from his mouth in confusion as the game had never before given visualization of actual blood; it was always a scattering of glowing red shards that shattered like glass before vanishing. Unable to help himself, Harry reached out and ran his fingers through the red mess and rubbed the substance between his fingers with detached fascination as his nose was filled with the scent of copper and he felt the sticky warmth coating his fingers.

It was at that point that Harry realized that he was no longer wearing the twenty-something year old avatar he'd created for the game; his body had been forcefully reverted to his actual physical appearance. Before he could figure out how that had happened, since he vaguely recalled that he'd destroyed the mirror thing early on in the game, the eager howls of a pack of wolves filled the forest surrounding him and he knew that the creatures were hunting him (his earlier screams would have drawn their attention). Wearily climbing up onto his feet despite the deep seated ache he still felt all the way down in his bones, Harry began searching for a place to hole up for the evening.

He never noticed that the blood he'd vomited up shattered the moment he stepped away from it.

As he moved deeper into the forest, Harry hoped that his clients had made it back to the village safely and that they would send help because he wasn't certain if he was up to finding his way back on his own right now. A glance down at his runty little nine year old body had him grimacing and thinking that maybe it was better if no one found him because he was no longer the strong adult he'd portrayed himself as for the last six weeks. Either no one would believe him when he told them who he was, they would curse him for lying to them all of this time, or they'd think he'd found a cheat code and refused to share it.

The only one that had ever suspected that he wasn't old as he appeared was Agil and Harry had always brushed off the man's subtle inquiries by saying he'd always been told he was mature for his age (which was true enough). But he doubted that even Agil suspected that he'd been less than half of the age he'd made himself out to be. Tears began filling Harry's eyes as he thought about Agil turning cold and striking him from his Friend List; just the mere thought of losing his first and only friend cut him to the quick.

Near midnight, the troubled and tormented nine year old stumbled upon the partially hollowed out stump of an old fir tree and he robotically started to set up a perimeter of traps to protect himself from the wolves he knew were hunting him. As he set up the first trap, he was confused when there was a fifteen second delay before the trap actually formed. Harry grew increasingly frightened when the next three traps he set up were affected by the same delay despite the fact that he had attempted to use a different trap each time. Unaware that the delay was a one time deal due to his magic testing, copying, and assimilating the game code so that his magic could recreate the traps as spells, Harry stopped setting up traps and stood frozen with fear.

The nearby howls of hunting wolves broke Harry from his stupor and he quickly dropped down onto his knees and used his shovel to enlarge the hollow inside of the stump enough so that he would fit inside of it. Tears poured down his face once more as there was yet another delay before the shovel removed the dirt like it was supposed to. Harry feared that whatever had happened to him earlier had corrupted all of his in-game skills when it was only his magic assimilating yet another skill.

Before he could completely panic, the loud crunching of many large paws running through the frozen snow reached his ears and he bolted into the hollow and used his shovel to shift the dirt from the floor in an effort to block off the entrance; his magic quickly interfered yet again and made it so the thin wall of dirt hardened to rock and blended in perfectly with the outside of the stump; effectively hiding the hollow.

Trembling in terror and praying that the flimsy wall would protect him (completely unaware of the changes that had been made to the wall on the outside), Harry scrambled to return his shovel to his inventory and took out his dagger as he pressed his back up against the wall of the trunk as far away from the entrance as he could get. The pack of wolves that had been hunting him broke into the clearing just seconds later and he could hear their faint snarls and growls as they tried to find him. A sharp yelp was followed by the sharp snap of the hangman's snare he'd set activating; signifying that at least one wolf had gotten caught by his faulty traps.

That the trap had worked made Harry feel just a little better right up until he heard claws scraping at the side of the stump where the entrance sat. His heart rose up into his throat at the thought of being caught like a rat in a trap with no where to go. Just when he thought the wolf was going to break into the hollow, the pack let out a chorus of howls and growls before they left the clearing. Harry sagged in relief and let out a soft sob over how close he'd come to being found by the monsters.

His relief was short lived though as not more than twenty-five minutes after the wolves had fled the clearing, he picked up the faint sounds of something large entering the clearing outside of his stump.

The footsteps grew louder until they were right outside his stump where they began circling all around him and Harry began having trouble breathing as he strained to listen to what sounded like the growls and grumbles of some large monster over the pounding in his ears as his heart rate shot through the roof. He had to choke back the scream of pure terror that climbed up the back of his throat when he heard something heavy thud into the top of the stump he was hiding inside of; knowing that if he made a single sound the monster that had driven off the wolves would find him and kill him.

He had no idea how long he sat there paralyzed with fear while some creature hunted for him before it seemingly gave up and left. He dared not leave the stump for fear that the creature was merely waiting for him to show himself and he eventually drifted off to sleep propped up against the side of the trunk with his dagger still firmly clasped in his hands.

Harry remained holed up in the hollow stump for three days, sleeping off the lingering pain and exhaustion from the glitch that had nearly killed him before the annoying buzzing of the system telling him that his inbox was full pulled him out of his depression. Harry reluctantly opened his message box to find a hundred messages from Agil and he felt a small flash of guilt over ignoring the man for so long. He didn't bother with the first ninety-nine messages; skipping over them to open the most recent one and read through the frantic letter.

_Where the hell are you!? What happened to you!? Why aren't you answering my  
messages!? I know you are still alive, what the hell is going on man!? Talk to me,  
buddy, let me help you! I can't help you if you don't answer me. _

_Please, James, please answer me!_

Harry sighed and hit the reply button. He then stared at the screen for several long minutes before he typed out a reply trying to explain what had happened to him. He erased his response twice before he finally settled on a rather short reply that he hoped would placate the gruff, but kind, older man.

_Sorry, I worried you. I'm safe for now. Don't know when I'll be back._

Harry hit the send button before he could change his mind yet again. He then meticulously deleted all of the unopened messages in his inbox before closing out the menu. After that, he used his Listening and Detection Skills in order to determine if there were any monsters lying in wait for him just outside of his hiding place. When he didn't hear or sense anything, Harry carefully tore down the wall he'd made and hesitantly crawled out of the stump. Out of habit, he glanced over to where he'd set up the traps three days earlier and saw that all of the traps had either expired or been sprung while he'd stayed hidden inside of the stump.

After staring about the small clearing without really seeing it for several long minutes, Harry tried to get his bearings so he could determine the shortest, safest route out of the forest. He was just pulling up the partial map he had of the area when he received another message from Agil. Harry hesitated a brief moment before opening it.

_Thank kamisama! I was really starting to get worried. Where are you? I'll come  
get you._

Harry sighed and closed his eyes in pain as his heart ached with the fear of losing his only friend as he imagined the man hating him the moment he learned the truth about Harry's age. Biting his lip, he stifled the urge to bawl as he shot back an even shorter reply.

_I'm fine. You don't need to get me._

Harry had barely switched menu pages back to the map he needed to view when he got yet another reply. He eyed the message worriedly as he could well imagine just what the man would have to say to him. He briefly considered deleting the message without reading it but knew that wouldn't stop the man from spamming his inbox again until he actually replied; so he opened it.

_Don't you pull that crap with me! Besides; I'm already here on the third floor  
inside of the Furgrin Forest. Where are you?_

This time, Harry let out a soft whine of frustration as he stared at the message. The last thing he wanted was for Agil to see him as he was now. He didn't want the man to hate him because he'd pretended to be an adult all of this time. Before he could think of a suitable reply, Agil sent yet another message.

_I don't have all day, buddy; I have a shop to run and I've already lost three days  
trying to find you. _

Harry hunched his shoulders and took several steps backwards instinctively, feeling more than a little trapped as he imagined Agil growing angrier. Icy numbness crept up his spine as yet another message came through for him before he could even think about replying to either of the last two messages.

_Don't be stubborn, gaki; I'm not the only one who's been out here freezing his ass  
off looking for you. Just tell me where you are already!_

Bowing his head, Harry swallowed with difficulty as he realized he was running out of options. He could hide in the stump again and pray they'd give up, he could tell Agil where to find him, or he could run. Coward that he was, Harry chose to run under the misconception that fleeing would protect his friendship and he sent Agil one last message.

_No._

Harry didn't even bother to check the map as he turned north and Sprinted away from his temporary camp; the nine year old far too frightened this time to notice the initial delay before the skill activated. He reached the edge of the forest some fifteen minutes later and still didn't stop. He would have Sprinted all the way to the nearest town in order to access a Teleport Gate (he had stopped carrying Teleportation Crystals with him after he'd reached level fifteen in order to save room in his Inventory) if his legs didn't give out on him just a few miles out into field he was in.

His entire body was aching again and he actually felt winded (as if he'd actually spent the last hour running non-stop); feelings that had been arbitrary prior to whatever glitch had happened to him after reaching level thirty.

Needing a moment to catch his breath, Harry hobbled over to the only tree he could see in the entire field and climbed up into its branches to avoid sitting out in the open. He then dug out an apple from his Inventory to take the edge off the hunger he'd been feeling off and on for the past few days and absently took a bite as he tried to figure out what exactly had happened to him in an effort to forget about the fact that he'd just ran out on his only friend. His attention was soon drawn to the apple in his hand when he realized that he could feel a bit of juice from the fruit trickling down his chin and coating his fingers. In fact, the fruit tasted far more natural than it should have.

Furrowing his brow, Harry stared at the fruit before he took another couple of bites in order to see if he could figure out what was different. It wasn't until he bit down on a seed that Harry realized it wasn't just his imagination that the fruit he in his hand was behaving unlike any of the other game fruit he'd eaten previously. The oddness of actually feeling the apple settle in his stomach (once he recognized the sensation) was even more disconcerting as his avatar shouldn't be able to feel the weight of food settling into it. The system's apples should not have seeds, avatars don't get tired using their skills unless their Hit Points (also sometimes called Health Points or HP) fell into the orange or red, there was not supposed to be any delays in activating his skills, and avatars don't feel pain, get dizzy, or vomit blood.

His eyes wandered a bit as he tried to puzzle out what had changed (and wondered if any other players had experienced the same thing) until they ended up resting on the shortened golden bar hovering above his head that indicated that his HP level had been cut in half at some point. Harry gasped and his eyes widened comically as he jerked his head up to stare at the HP bar in confusion bordering on hysteria; HP bars were supposed to be green when they were full, yellow when you took a hit that dropped you below three-quarters of your total HP, orange when your HP level reached about half of your total points, and red if you had less than one quarter of your HP remaining.

HP bars did _not_ turn gold.

There was no explanation for the change. He could think of nothing that he'd done to corrupt his HP counter only to blanch when he realized that there was a chance it was a side effect of whatever glitch it was that had taken hold of him after he'd reached level thirty. He also hoped the fact that it wasn't displaying the ratio of remaining HP to the total number of HP he had gained was just a side effect of whatever it was that had (hopefully) temporarily turned the bar gold. He opened his menu to check his stats in order to put his mind at ease, intentionally ignoring the six new messages that he had from Agil, and felt his breath catch at the back of his throat as he read his new in-game classification.

Only one thing ran through Harry's mind as he stared at the open menu; _what the hell is Indefinable Immortal Object supposed to mean?_ He felt himself grow dizzy when he finally glanced down to check on his HP Total to find that instead of the four digit number he expected there were six dashes and the words; System Error, HP Incalculable.

His head went all fuzzy and he had more than a little trouble breathing as he simply stared at his stat page. After nearly twenty minutes had passed, he tore his eyes away from the disturbing revelations and reached out with a shaky hand to close the menu only for yet another urgent messages to pop up right as his finger connected with the menu; opening the message instead.

_James, what the hell is going on? Is someone threatening you? Are you trapped some-  
where by a Boss Monster? Does it have anything to do with your last job? I know you  
know how to take care of yourself but you take far too many risks; especially when you  
take into account the fact that you keep telling me that you have no true fighting skills. _

_No matter what is going on, you know I'd be willing to help you in any way I can, right?_

Harry closed the message and closed out the menu; he had no intention of replying. He studiously ignored the troubling golden bar floating above him as he glanced out over the snow covered field and tried not to think anymore. A cold breeze shook the branches of the tree he was hiding in and Harry shivered as he wrapped his arms around his knees and curled up to conserve body heat. He was just considering pulling his blanket out of his inventory when he was ambushed by the returning flock of Carrion Crows that had made their home in the tree he was sitting in; he'd completely forgotten to check the tree for signs of their nests before he'd taken refuge in it.

He flailed about for several precious seconds before he tumbled down out of the tree and hit the ground hard enough to jar his teeth and leave more than a few painful bruises; the crows chasing after him. He let out an involuntary cry as the enormous birds raked his flesh with claw and beak and he felt pain once more as they drew blood with each attack. Drawing his dagger, Harry struck back at the vicious creatures in an effort to protect himself and he started crying again as the pain continued to grow with each jab of claw and beak.

The last of the birds died several minutes later, leaving Harry surrounded by a dozens of open windows listing the number of Items, Col, and Experience Points he'd gained and copious amounts of his blood. Panting heavily, Harry stared at his bleeding arms before he glanced up at his HP Bar to find it unchanged; he'd taken no further losses to his Hit Points despite the 'injuries' that had been caused to him by the crows. The panic that he'd been struggling with since the moment he'd been caught up in the system glitch blossomed within his chest and for the first time since Harry first discovered the world of Ken no Sekai, he didn't feel the comforting sense of being home that he'd come to associate with the game world.

The world he'd come to consider home had just grown far darker than his former life ever had been.

Harry was still shaking beneath the weight of his fears when he received yet another message from Agil. This time he didn't hesitate to open the message, he desperately needed to pretend that all was right in the world even if everything had gone all wrong. He was, after all, just a frightened little boy trapped in a deadly game with no escape. Sure, he'd managed to pretend otherwise for the first six weeks of the game thanks to his adult avatar and the belief that the game was nothing more than one big adventure but all of that had been stripped from him in an instant.

_Please stop ignoring me, James; it's Christmas Eve, we should be sitting in the pub,  
drinking ale, and laughing at all of the other guys making spectacles of themselves  
in their quest to impress the ladies. Not freezing our asses off out in the middle of  
the forest dodging the local monsters!_

Harry wiped his hands on his pants to clean off the blood that covered them before he hit the reply button; his hands shaking like leaves as he truly opened up to someone for the first time in his life and poured his heart out to the one man that had been a friend to him since the day they'd met close to five weeks earlier.

_I'm scared, Agil. I don't know what happened to me and I don't know how to fix it.  
It hurts and I just want it to stop. This was supposed to be a game but everything  
here is a lie. I was a lie and now I don't know what I am. _

_I know I shouldn't have lied about everything but I was just so scared you'd hate me  
if you knew the truth. I just didn't want to be alone again and it was nice to pretend  
that I really did have a friend. _

_I should have known better. I never should have been here. I never should have  
pretended to be someone that I wasn't. My uncle is right, I ruin everything I touch  
and I am nothing more than a stupid, worthless freak. I only wanted to know what  
it was like to be somebody other than me. _

_I don't know what to do and I don't want to be here anymore but I can't go back. _

Harry clicked the send button without bothering to read what he'd written. He then crawled over to the tree he'd been sitting in earlier and curled up in a ball against the trunk as he tried not to see monsters (both real and imagined) in every shadow that surrounded him; doing his best to ignore the freezing cold as the snow beneath him melted and soaked his pants. He couldn't ever remember a time when he'd ever felt so miserable; not even when he'd been locked inside of his cupboard with no food for a week because Dudley had gotten him in trouble for something he (Harry) hadn't done.

He was just in the middle of convincing himself that Agil would never want to speak to him again now that he knew that Harry had been lying to him, when he got a reply. He slowly reached out to accept the message, all the while believing it would be his only friend telling him to get lost, and nearly deleted the message by mistake due to his hands trembling both from the cold and from his out of control emotions. When he did get the message open, he had trouble reading it at first because of the tears clouding his eyes.

_I'm coming, James, I already told you that I would help. In the mean time, you  
need to tell me where you __**right now**__! No more evasions and no more refusals.  
We can sort out the rest later._

A lump formed in Harry's throat and his eyes began burning from the emotions he felt welling up inside of him. He'd thought for certain that Agil would be angry and tell him to get lost now that he knew Harry had been lying to him. So after taking a moment to calm down, he provided the requested information.

_I'm stuck beneath a large nest of Carrion Crows beside a lone tree in the field to the  
north of Furgrin Forest because I can't go anywhere and it's the only cover there is  
out here. Please be careful, Agil, the crows have already attacked me once and they  
are already regenerating._

Agil's response came back just seconds later;

_Stay right where you are! We'll be there as soon as we can. If you still have your  
trapping supplies and if you haven't already done so; use them to protect yourself  
from the crows! _

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Gaki – brat  
Kami/Kamisama – god/spirit  
Ken no Sekai – Sword Art Online

**Game Terminology:**

Aincrad – **A**n **Inc**arnating **Rad**ius (the name of the Castle that is SAO)  
Dungeon – an area within the game where players can attack or be attacked by monsters (or other players)  
Experience Points – the points earned for each quest completed and each monster killed  
Guild – group of players that work together for a common goal  
HP – **H**it **P**oints: the number of Life Force/Life Points/Health Points a person has  
NERDLES – **Ner**ve **D**irect **L**inkage **E**nvironment **S**ystem (a surgically implanted chip that allows the FullDive system to interface with the brain – the surgically implanted part may or may not be canon as it was something I thought seemed more logical than it just being part of the interface helmet)  
NPC – **N**on-**P**layer **C**haracter  
PM – **P**rivate **M**essage  
Skill Points – Experience points that are applied towards mastery of an in game skill

* * *

Harry's Game Data/Stats (Glitch/Soul Integration):

**Classification:** Human Player (before glitch)/Indefinable Immortal Object (after glitch)  
**Level:** 30  
**HP:** 5425/5425 (before glitch)/- System Error: HP Incalculable (after glitch)  
**Col:** 895,201

**Main Equipment:**

Steel Shovel – Sturdy shovel used for digging traps  
Steel Wire – Wire that is hard to break/cut and used to create traps  
Hardy Boots – Sturdy boots that make some noise and raise his defense slightly  
Leather Gloves – Sturdy gloves that protect his hands from his trap wires and cables and raise his defense slightly  
Leather Clothes – Sturdy clothes that raise his defense slightly

**Skill Slots:** 13 (four extra slots carried over from Beta Test – three of which are unfilled)

**Equipped Skills:** (Basic 1-250 pts, Advanced 251-500 pts, Proficient 501-750 pts, Expert 751-999 pts, & Master 1000 pts)

Acrobatics – 673  
Detection – 735  
Fishing – 923  
Hiding – 719  
Listening – 697  
Night Vision – 814  
Searching – 789  
Sprint – 943  
Tracking – 1000  
Trapping – 1000

**Unarmed Skills:** 5

Escape – 1000  
Camping – 1000  
Navigation – 671  
Scouting – 884  
Research – 667

**Notes:** To calculate the HP for any given level I used the following formula: [175(L – 1) + 350] where L = player's level and 350 represents a player's HP at level one. So, using Harry's beta level (23) as an example; [175(23-1) + 350 = 4200]

* * *

**AN:** _I just wanted to point out, in case it wasn't obvious in the chapter, that Harry's soul transfer into the game at level thirty is nothing more than a coincidence. The transfer would have happened no matter where he was, what he was doing, or what level he was at on that exact date at that exact time because that was when his magic became unable to sustain his body. It was just a twist of fate that he'd leveled up just seconds before the transfer began. _

_As far as Harry's panic; he is a nine year old boy and he's just had his innocence stripped away, of course that is going to affect him no matter how smart he is or how mature he'd been acting up until that point. It will take him some time to bounce back after his ordeal and he'll never regain all that was lost when his soul was shoved out of his body. _

_For those of you who want more information on the soul transfer and the hows and whys that it occurred, that will come later in the story; so please be patient._


	5. Truths

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out this very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am making no money whatsoever from the writing of this FanFiction._

**Warnings:** _Mild to moderate violence, character death, foul language, alternate universe (i.e. kiss HP canon goodbye), angst, drama, starts pre-Hogwarts Era, and who knows what else. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter Five: Truths

_Wednesday, December 24, 2019 4:42 PM_

Harry didn't bother setting any of his traps as ordered; he was too tired, too cold, too frightened, in too much pain, and had lost all confidence in the skills he'd prided himself on prior to reaching level thirty. Instead, he took out his blanket and wrapped it around himself, clutched his dagger in both hands as he huddled up against the tree, and dropped his face down onto his knees. His emotions were so tangled up and twisted that he couldn't even find the energy to wonder who it was that was traveling with Agil. The nine year old let out a strangled whimper when the overlarge and violent birds above began making a ruckus up in the tree; an indication that they nearly had enough numbers to initiate their group attack (the cowards never attacked individually).

A small part of him wondered if the birds would attack him again before his friend reached him or if the murderous mob would attack his friend the moment Agil reached the tree. The newest fear that his friend would die because he'd come to save him didn't have enough time to fully manifest before a familiar voice called out his name and he lifted face just enough to glance southwards where he could see a pair of individuals running towards him. He easily recognized the tall black man as Agil but he had no idea who the shorter person at his side could be; though Harry absently thought the guy looked vaguely familiar.

Feeling even more insecure now that he'd pretty much been found, Harry shrank in on himself even further and pulled the blanket tight as he shivered and watched the pair growing steadily closer. His chest hitched as his breath caught in his throat when the two men (or rather one man and one teen) finally noticed him curled up against the tree. At the same time, the crows in the tree above him began cawing raucously and jumping about the branches as they prepared to launch their attack the moment the pair got within ten yards of the tree. Harry couldn't help but let out a strangled sob as he recalled feeling their beaks and claws slicing through his flesh when they'd attacked him earlier.

"_James? Is that you? Are you alright?_" Agil inquired as he pulled the two handed axe that he carried off his back in preparation for the inevitable battle without slowing down or stopping.

"_Can you run or fight?_" the teen demanded on the heels of Agil's questions as he unsheathed a sword from his back and focused his attention up on the dozens of two foot tall Carrion Crows jumping about the branches of the tree.

Before Harry could reply to either question, the entire flock descended upon the three of them with a vengeance. Beaks and claws shredded Harry's blanket in short order and it wasn't long before he could feel the razor sharp appendages ripping through his skin and clothes once more. One of the birds managed to latch onto his left wrist with one foot; its talons ripping through his flesh like razors as he instinctively jerked and shook his arm in an effort to get the monster off of him. Angry, terrified, and in pain, Harry lashed out blindly as he ducked his head and pressed his face against his knees once more to protect his eyes from the vicious birds.

The longer the attack lasted, the angrier Harry grew until something rose up from inside of him and lashed out at the remaining crows; electrocuting them all in an instant while at the same time flinging their carcasses out and away from him where they promptly shattered into millions of pieces and vanished.

Panting from the exertion and his still churning emotions, Harry slumped back against the tree as a wave of weakness washed through him. If he'd bothered to look up, the nine year old would have noticed his HP Bar (which had already been half empty) dropping dangerously low. It was an indication that Harry had almost completely drained his magical core when his magic had risen to protect him from the crows in response to his emotions and the pain – something that had only been possible because of his soul being integrated into the system.

When a shadow fell over him, Harry automatically threw himself to the side with a sharp cry and scrambled backwards as he immediately thought that he was about to be attacked again only to freeze the moment he looked up and saw Agil standing over him. Swallowing thickly, Harry immediately bowed his head in shame and hunched his shoulders as he waited for the yelling to start.

"_Is that really you, James?_" Agil asked softly as he crouched down just a short ways away from Harry in an obvious effort to not to appear quite so intimidating.

Harry glanced up through his fringe before slowly nodding, his eyes shining with tears, before he dropped his eyes back down to the ground. He scrubbed at his arms beneath the ruined sleeves of his shirt, smearing the blood seeping from his multiple injuries and drawing Agil's and the teen's attention to the multitude of gashes littering his arms, the back of his neck, and his back.

"_Why are you bleeding? How is that even possible?_" the teen questioned with a frown as strode up to Harry and reached down to grab hold of Harry's arm.

Harry scuttled sideways and jerked his arm out of reach of the vaguely familiar but still unknown teen. It was a rather childish reaction but Harry was a child and he'd had a rough few days so his defensive instincts were still in overdrive despite the exhaustion and pain that was weighing down on him.

"_I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you,_" the teen stated as he backed off a bit and sat down on the ground beside the black merchant. "_I'm Kirito, by the way._"

"_What happened to you, James? How did you end up with the avatar of a child?_" Agil asked in confusion as he leaned forward and tried to catch his eye.

Harry began playing with the hem of his ruined shirt, absently noting how it moved and felt more like real cloth now, before he took a shaky breath and replied, "_This is me; the other me was my avatar. I don't know what happened to me, though. After I got bumped up to level thirty, everything went wrong._" Harry paused and lifted haunted greens eyes to meet Agil's eyes for the first time since the man had arrived as he unconsciously switched over to speaking English; his voice shaking with fear. "I kept shattering over and over and over again. It hurt so bad I wanted to die but I couldn't and there was nothing I could do to stop it. When it was finally over I was like I am now and I ached all over and everything was all messed up."

"The day of the launch, everyone received a mirror that was designed to sync their avatars with their physical bodies; how did you manage to avoid having your avatar synced to your real body along with everyone else's?" Kirito inquired (the teen automatically switching to English in response to Harry's use of the language) in order to give Harry something else to think about aside from the apparent torture he'd suffered through from some kind of glitch in the system.

"I hadn't understood very much of what the mod-bloke said that first night because I didn't know very much Japanese and he spoke too fast for me to puzzle out the words I didn't know. The next thing I knew, the other players standing around me were pulling out a mirror from their inventory and before I could see if I had one too, I saw the others being changed. Everyone else was so angry and scared that I thought the mirrors hurt them so I never took out the one in my inventory. Once I did learn what the mirror had done, I deleted it from my inventory because I wasn't supposed to be here and I knew that if someone recognized me, then I'd be in even bigger trouble than I already was."

"You avoided being unmasked as a child on the day of the game's launch due to a mere technicality?" Agil drawled in disbelief. Harry shrugged his shoulders and shifted uncomfortably as he glanced between the two older players. Agil sighed at that point as he asked, "You avoided answering me every time I asked you previously but this time I really need for you to answer me; how old are you, James? You don't look a day over seven or eight but that's impossible because an age restriction was imposed upon the equipment necessary to experience a FullDive. On the other hand, I just can't see you as being thirteen."

"I'm nine," Harry confessed meekly as he dropped his eyes back to the ground in shame.

"That's not possible; none of the technicians would have implanted a NERDLES in a nine year old. Not even for a rather hefty bribe," Kirito insisted with a frown as he apparently just noted how small Harry looked.

"I… I'm not even supposed to have the gaming console. I stole it. My uncle bought it for my cousin but then he threw it away after my cousin made a comment about something he'd learned in this game and I dug it out of the rubbish bin because I wanted to know why my uncle was so mad about what had been said and why he refused to give my cousin back his things. I didn't know you had to have someone put the NERDLES in for you; I just stuck the extra one my uncle had bought to the back of my head where the picture on the package showed it was supposed to go. That was back in the middle of August."

"You were a beta tester," Agil surmised as he immediately understood the significance of the timing.

"Yes."

"Your parents and your friends must be very worried about you," Kirito stated softly, his eyes filled with concern as he eyed the wounds that were visible through Harry's ruined shirt once more. "Your injuries are also still bleeding pretty badly. You said something about being in pain earlier, are you in pain right now?"

"My parents are dead, no one in the real world cares about me, and my only friend is Agil," Harry retorted casually as he poked at the rather nasty gash that ran from between his middle and ring fingers on the back of his left hand down below the thumb before wrapping around the underside of the wrist from where the one crow had grabbed him. "And, yes, the cuts still burn and sting and I still ache all over."

"Surely someone must be concerned for your health since you've been trapped here for so long now," Agil insisted; the older man clearly upset and uncomfortable over the implications of Harry's declaration. "You spoke of your uncle and a cousin; won't they be concerned?"

Harry glanced up at his friend briefly before he turned to stare out over the field as he let out a soft, humorless laugh as he stated, "My aunt and uncle made it a point to remind me on a weekly basis that I am an ungrateful freak and a burden that should have done the world a favor and died in the car crash that killed my parents when I was still just a baby. The only thing they will be concerned about is the fact that I broke the rules; I dared touch something that belonged to my cousin and I stole from them. I'm surprised they didn't pull the plug on the Nerve Gear I'm wearing the moment they discovered me linked up to the game in my cupboard under the stairs."

Harry didn't notice that Kirito had a horrified look on his face due to Harry's declaration or that Agil's expression was mostly filled with concern, more than a little sadness, and barely suppressed anger; the nine year old far too occupied with his inner turmoil.

"That's why I came here in the first place. During the beta test this world became my home. I was free here. Now… now this place scares me. As bad as my relatives are, they never hurt me. This game… this stupid, cruel game made me bleed," Harry continued hoarsely as he pushed up his ruined left sleeve to bare the numerous gashes that had been left by the crows as tears began sliding down his face once more. "Why? Why did their attacks hurt so much? Why did the crows suddenly make me bleed when they attacked me this time? What is wrong with me!?"

The other two players said nothing because they had no answers.

After a moment, Harry scrubbed at his face with his hands and uncaringly smeared blood, snot, and tears all over his face. He didn't know why he was crying at the drop of a hat just because he was suddenly wearing an avatar that looked like his real body; he'd stopped crying years ago. Though, in truth, he'd been having trouble hiding his emotions ever since he'd started playing Ken no Sekai because he'd been happy living in Aincrad and exploring the various wonders that could be found in the many dungeons. Only now there was nothing to be happy about; now the game he'd thought of as home had turned on him in the blink of an eye and it had hurt him.

As he sat shivering on the frozen ground beneath the nesting tree of a flock of Carrion Crows, Harry finally understood that he wasn't just playing some silly game. In that moment, the last of Harry's innocence was shattered as he realized that the rest of the world could be far crueler than his relatives ever had been.

It was not a happy revelation and Harry shook beneath the magnitude of negative emotions that swept through him as a result of his eyes being forcefully torn open. He let out a half strangled keening whine as he reached up and tangled his fingers in his hair only to cut it off the moment he heard the crunch of shifting ice and snow; a sharp reminder that he was not alone. Fear of being punished for daring to show any emotions (the Dursley's rules still deeply ingrained within his psyche) had him scrambling up onto his feet despite his pain as he slammed a mental door down on his inner turmoil and wiped his face of all emotion.

Once he was certain he was in control of himself, Harry glanced up and flicked his eyes between the two older players before he submissively dropped his gaze back to the ground and held himself stiffly as he waited for one of the others to say something about his lack of control. He also suspected that he'd be yelled at by his friend any minute for his earlier fits when he'd tried to run away and for basically lying about his age all this time. And while his relatives had avoided touching him in general, his aunt and uncle hadn't been afraid to administer the occasional slap when he did something they disapproved.

So when he heard the snow crunch again and saw Agil's shadow move into his line of sight, he braced himself for the expected blow.

The nine year old was in no way prepared when Agil stopped beside him and wrapped him in his arms instead. Utterly confused and completely unused and uncomfortable with prolonged physical contact, Harry tensed up and stopped breathing as he tried to figure out what the hell was happening. They stood like that for several minutes before Harry worked up the courage to ask what was happening.

"Agil…? What are you doing?"

"What do you mean, what am I doing, gaki? I'm giving you a hug, what does it look like I'm doing?"

"Oh. I didn't know hugs felt so nice. I've never had one before and every time I saw my cousin get one he'd whine, complain, and fight my aunt so I thought they hurt," Harry confessed as he gradually relaxed and leaned into the man's embrace, pressing his face into Agil's stomach while his hands rose up of their own accord to grab hold of the dark gray coverall's that the man wore. The nine year old would later deny he snuggled with Agil whenever his first hug was mentioned in his hearing; he was a grown boy, after all, and grown boys don't snuggle.

"We should head back into town now," Kirito suggested after several minutes had passed. "The Carrion Crows are regenerating rapidly and they will soon have enough numbers to mob us a second time. On top of that, the sun has already begun to set; meaning we'll have Ravenous Wolves to deal with on top of the thieving birds."

"Right, hold on, gaki; I'm going to use a Transport Crystal to take us directly back to Hajimari no Machi."

As the blue pillar of teleport magic wrapped around Harry and Agil, Harry's magic (what little of it remained) reached out to identify the gaming code that was wrapping itself around his soul (delaying their arrival by fifteen seconds). By the time they reappeared at the Gate Plaza in Hajimari no Machi, his magic had incorporated the new 'spell' into limited repertoire of spells. That brought his official Spell Count up to nine; four Trap Spells (all variations of the Snare Trap that he'd used the night he hid in the stump), digging (from when he'd cleared out the stump), Dirt to Wall (also from his stint in the stump), Sprint (his mad dash out of the forest), the Sphere Blast (the attack that had killed the crows), and Teleport (the ability to move himself between any two points).

Harry still didn't know anything about his magic though and would therefore not learn about the new spells he'd gained until much later in the game.

"_What happened, Agil?_" Kirito demanded worriedly as he rushed up to the pair of them. "_I expected you to already be here because the two of you'd left nearly a full minute before I did._"

"_Just the usual lag from Teleporting two people with one Crystal,_" Agil replied with a shrug of his shoulder; the older man just as clueless about Harry's magic as Harry.

Harry glanced up sharply at the teen's question as he recalled the delays he'd experienced when trying to use his skills and had feared that the delay in their arrival had been caused by him right up until Agil brought up the time delay caused by multiple passengers using a single Teleport Crystal. He let out a soft sigh of relief that the delay hadn't been his fault (at least not completely) before he reluctantly stepped out of Agil's arms now that they'd arrived back in the city. He tried not to grow depressed over the sudden loss of warmth that brief period of human contact had provided (simulated though it was) as he shivered in the artificial winter wind that swept through the Gate Plaza.

Wrapping his arms around his stomach in a pathetic attempt to ward off the chill, he took another step away from his friend only for his legs to buckle on him due to his exhaustion; his new HP Bar (which was actually a Magic Point or MP Bar) still sitting dangerously low. Before he hit the ground, Agil swept him up in his arms and, for the second time in a single hour, Harry was shocked and confused over the fact that the man was willing to touch him; he clearly recalled how much his family had abhorred the mere thought of touching him (disciplinary slaps aside).

It was decidedly awkward to find himself being carried by his friend as Agil made his way to the upstairs apartment that sat above the small shop the man had recently purchased; Harry completely uncertain as to how he should feel about the continued contact since he'd lived almost his entire life without it. On one hand, it was warm and reassuring. On the other hand, he was highly uncomfortable with allowing another person to invade his personal space. By the time they reached Agil's apartment, Harry had given up trying to figure it out and had simply relaxed into the warmth; the nine year old half asleep in Agil's arms (and he was still _not_ snuggling).

Harry lifted his head off of Agil's shoulder out of curiosity as they entered the apartment; in all the time he'd known the friendly merchant, he'd never been invited into the man's apartment (then again, Agil hadn't had the place very long and Harry had rarely stuck around for long when he visited). Unsurprisingly, the apartment looked much like the shop below; with weapons, armor, tools, and materials stacked haphazardly throughout the entire flat. Harry couldn't help but snicker over the mess because it explained why Agil often had trouble finding anything. At the same time, Harry's fingers itched to organize the mess; the long years spent as the Dursleys' personal maid had made an impression upon his young mind and meant that he didn't like messes since he always got punished for them even though he never made them.

"_Excuse the clutter, I haven't made time to finish moving the merchandise and materials downstairs into the shop or finish unpacking,_" Agil implored in Japanese as he waded through the messes towards the bathroom with Harry still held in his arms.

"_Uh-huh, that's probably because your shop is ten times worse than your apartment,_" Kirito drolly pointed out as he smirked at the older man.

"_Not my fault so many players come to me to trade and sell their extra items,_" Agil fired right back as he set the nine year old back on his feet before giving him a gentle push inside of the bathroom. "_Go take a shower and clean yourself up, James; it should help you feel better._"

"_Ah, so it has nothing to do with the fact that you dump things in the first spot you come across and promptly forget about them?_" Kirito's voice called back from the other room.

Harry snickered softly over the good natured bickering between the two older players as Agil shut the door behind him to give him some privacy. His amusement didn't last long though as he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror. He looked terrible; his shirt had been ruined and was soaked with blood, his pants were filthy, his hair was a tangled mess (though that was normal), his arms were streaked with fresh and drying blood, and his face was smeared with blood, snot, and dirt. Swallowing thickly, he turned away from his reflection and turned on the water to the shower before using the menu to un-equip his clothes out of habit; never noticing as his magic flared around him once again.

Once he stepped beneath the stream of hot water, Harry sighed softly as he reveled in the feel of actual water pouring over him, the sensation far more realistic than he'd expected; including the stinging of the numerous cuts that littered his arms, back, and neck from where the crows had hurt him with their claws and beaks. He soon closed his eyes, leaned up against the wall, and slowly relaxed as the warm water washed over him. He probably would have fallen asleep standing up if not for Agil knocking on the door and asking him if he was almost finished some twenty minutes later.

Regretfully, Harry fumbled for the bar of soap in the shower and quickly washed himself before he rinsed off the suds, turned off the water, and stepped out of the shower. He then quickly opened his Inventory to equip himself with an older set of clothes that he had intended to sell without bothering to dry off and never noticed that his hair was still dripping water or that his clothes clung to his damp body.

He intentionally avoided looking at his reflection again as he shuffled over to the door and opened it just wide enough so he could stick his head out into the hallway. When he didn't see anyone waiting for him, he tentatively slipped out into the hallway and warily began making his way back to the living room.

"_Ah, good, you are finished,_" Agil proclaimed as he exited one of the bedrooms, walked up behind Harry, and scooped the nine year old back up into his arms.

Harry stiffened and bit off a startled yelp over the unexpectedness of being swept off his feet and held once again. He relaxed a minute later when the man simply carried him the rest of the way down the hall, through the living room, and into the dining room. Agil then shifted Harry into one arm while he used his free hand to clear off a chair that he soon deposited the nine year old onto. Harry blinked up at the man in confusion when he reached out and ruffled Harry's still wet hair before he left the room.

Uncertain about what was going to happen to him now, Harry pulled his feet up into the chair with him, wrapped his arms around his legs, and propped his chin on his knees as he let his eyes wander about the room. He was starting to drift off once more when he suddenly found Kirito kneeling in front of him holding a jar that was labeled as healing cream and a roll of gauze. The two of them had a short staring contest; Kirito thinking it obvious what he wanted and Harry not having a clue as to what the teen planned to do. The contest ended when Agil returned to the room and started laughing at the two of them.

"_James, Kirito has agreed to treat your injuries in order to stop the bleeding,_" Agil explained as both boys automatically turned to frown at the adult. "_Kirito, James has repeatedly refused to learn how to read minds; you have to explain to him exactly what it is you want. Trust me, I speak from experience and the gaki has a stubborn streak a mile wide when the mood strikes him._"

"_I'm not stubborn,_" Harry countered automatically as he frowned at the grinning man. "_I just don't like people bossing me about; I got that enough from my relatives._"

"_I rest my case._"

Kirito smothered a laugh when Harry scowled (more like pouted) in response to Agil's retort. After a few minutes, the teen managed to get his amusement under control before he stated, "_Agil informed me that you don't have Healing as one of your acquired Game Skills. However, I do, so he asked me to tend to your injuries since it would be less effective if you tried to do it yourself. In order for me to do that, I need for you to take off your shirt and grant me permission to treat you through the game menu. I figured I could treat you right here since we don't really know each other and I didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable by dragging you off to another room. Will that be alright with you, James?_"

Harry tipped his head to one side and considered the teen before glancing at Agil who was watching the both of them as he cleared off and set the dining room table so they could eat. He then glanced down at his arms and let his eyes flick over the numerous blood stains that were blooming across the tan sleeves of his shirt; a stark reminder that his injuries had not stopped bleeding. A quick check of the golden bar hovering above his head had him flinching when he realized that it was still dangerously low and he wondered if that was because he was bleeding or if he was still bleeding because it was so low. Shivering, Harry reached up to open the menu to take off the shirt he'd just put on.

If either of the other players were startled by how thin and frail Harry looked without his shirt or the fact that he had quite a few nasty looking bruises (that he'd gotten when he'd fallen out of the tree), they didn't mention it in Harry's presence.

Over the course of the next hour, Harry grew increasingly uncomfortable as he watched Kirito grow frustrated as the first aide items he was using to treat Harry's injuries briefly stopped functioning the moment they came into contact with his body before they suddenly reengaged; Harry's magic briefly shorting out the game code running the items each time they were used as it continuously failed to assimilate the coding into a new spell due to the fact that it wasn't Harry using the Items. If not for that anomaly, it would have only taken between five and ten minutes to dress the multitude of wounds Harry had acquired from the Carrion Crows.

Not long after his injuries had been properly treated, Agil brought out three plates of food for the three of them. The earlier anomaly Harry had noticed with the apple he'd eaten cropped up once more when he hesitantly began to eat from the plate Agil had set before him. The food would take on the characteristics of real food the moment the food came into contact with his hands or with the utensil he was holding and Harry got the distinct impression that Kirito was jealous of him for that.

Harry wouldn't have blamed him if he was; after six weeks of just going through the motions of eating, the concept of eating a real meal was heaven. Not wanting the teen to hate him, Harry tried to share the altered food but the moment he let go of it, the food would return to the standard in game fare and he blushed bright red when Kirito teasingly accused him of playing a prank on him.

Once all three of them had finished eating some twenty minutes later, Agil propped his elbows on the table as he laced his fingers together and penned Harry with a serious gaze from across the table as he asked, "_What are you going to do now, James?_"

"_What do you mean?_"

"_What do you plan to do now that you no longer have an adult avatar to hide behind? You do realize that you will not be able to travel as freely as you once did, right? Very few adult players are going to be willing to allow a child your age out into the dungeons; especially not alone._"

"_I… I don't know. There's something wrong with me; none of my traps were working right and everything acts all funny when I try to use any items. It's like all my Game Skills were messed up by the same glitch that took away my avatar. I'm scared that I'll be useless now because I can't use those skills but I don't want to have to depend on someone else for food and things though. And I don't care what anyone else says or thinks; I won't let anyone lock me up again._"

"_If you give me a day or two, I will see if I can't find some way to help you stay independent,_" Agil declared after he spent a couple of minutes considering the matter; an unfamiliar emotion darkening his eyes. Harry canted his head to one side as he met the man's gaze while he tried to figure out what his friend was thinking before he shrugged his shoulder to indicate it didn't matter to him.

Agil smiled in response (a smile that looked slightly pained in Harry's opinion – as if the man had expected a different answer and was disappointed that he didn't get it) before he grew serious once more as he brought up the next topic of discussion, "_In one of your messages, you mentioned that there was something you couldn't fix. Were you talking about the fact that you no longer have your avatar, the fact that you received lifelike injuries, or did it have to do with the problems you just mentioned with your in-game skills?_"

"_Those were all part of it_," Harry replied hesitantly as he dropped his gaze to the table and recalled everything that had happened after he'd reached level thirty.

There was his new classification as an Indefinable Immortal Object and the System Error that claimed that his HP was now incalculable. Then there were the changes that had happened to his HP Bar, the loss of his avatar, and the delays that now happened each time he tried to use his in game skills. On top of that, there was the sheer agony he'd felt during the strange glitch, the injuries he'd received both times the crows had attacked him, and worst of all the way his body had shattered over and over again for what had felt like hours.

Just thinking about everything that had happened to him over the last few days brought back all of his earlier turmoil and he trembled beneath the weight of the renewed fear that it could happen again.

"_That isn't all that is bothering you, is it?_" Kirito inquired as if he'd read Harry's mind.

Harry winced and shrank in on himself; his body language effectively answering Kirito's question. He then shot a nervous glance up towards the virtually unchanged status of his HP Bar before he quickly dropped his gaze back down to the table and wrapped one arm around his abdomen in hopes that it would ease the knots that had formed in his stomach.

"_James?_" Agil prompted.

Harry scrunched up his shoulders and bowed his head further. The sound of a chair scraping backwards made Harry think that he'd chased his friend off and he brought his legs back up onto the chair, wrapped both arms around his legs to make himself as small as possible, and pressed his face against his knees in order to hold back the tears that had once again filled his eyes. When a large hand settled on his head he jerked his head sideways and up at the unexpected contact and soon found himself face to face with Agil, who had merely walked around the table to crouch beside his chair.

"_I can't help you if you don't tell me what is wrong,_" Agil murmured as he replaced his hand on Harry's head.

"_I'm scared it will happen again. It felt like I was being ripped apart over and over again and after it was over I was different and I don't know how to put it back to how it was before._"

"_What do you mean by different? Are you referring to the loss of your avatar?_"

"_No, losing my avatar scared me because I was afraid you'd be angry with me and hate me and never want anything to do with me anymore because I'd lied to you. The other thing… the other thing frightens me more. I'm scared of what it means and what will happen to me now because of it._"

"_What is it that frightens you?_"

Instead of giving a verbal reply this time, Harry reached up with his right hand and opened his menu again, his hand trembling like a furless cat stuck out in the snow. He let his fingers hover hesitantly over the option to view his Player Stats for a long minute as he mentally debated on the wisdom of showing anyone his stats. Agil's hand dropped down to rub his back and Harry tensed for a moment before slowly relaxing as the warmth of the continued contact soothed some of his fears. After another minute, Harry opened the stat page for Agil to see; silently hoping that his friend could tell him that his new classification was nothing to worry about.

"_Classification: Indefinable Immortal Object, Total HP: System Error, HP Incalculable,_" Agil read aloud as his hand paused on Harry's back for a split second before resuming the soothing circular motion. "_That is strange; I did not think a player's classification as a Human Player could change. I was also unaware that there were Immortal Objects within the game but it makes sense that there would be. The incalculable HP is a little concerning but that is most likely related to your new classification in some way and so probably not as bad as it sounds. Kirito, you've spent quite a bit of the last six weeks on the front line and you were a beta tester; have you ever run across any immortal beings within the game?_"

"_No, but that doesn't mean that there aren't some out there. If I see or hear anything as I move on up through the floors, I'll be sure to contact you and pass on whatever information I learn though. There is also a chance that James's new classification is nothing more than a system glitch that will fix itself in a day or two._"

"_Players and monsters shatter when they die in the game and all items shatter when they expire or get damaged beyond repair,_" Harry interjected weakly, his voice thick with emotion. "_I was shattering over and over again for hours. I kept dying over and over again for hours but I'm still here. The first time the Carrion Crows attacked me while I was sitting up in the branches of the tree, my HP level never went down no matter how many times they struck me. I don't know why it went down the second time. I thought maybe it went down because I was bleeding so much but I don't really know._"

"_James…?_"

"_I'm scared, Agil. What if… what if I don't really exist any more? What if I'm nothing but a memory that was left behind because my body died? My aunt and uncle hate me! They wouldn't have lifted a finger to help me. What if they just locked my body in my cupboard under the stairs and left me there to die like they always threatened to do? No one cares about me there and they wouldn't have bothered taking me to the hospital because they never wanted anyone to know that I lived with them or that I was related to them._"

"_What about your school teachers?_" Kirito asked logically in a voice laced with tension.

"_They all ignored me. They never called on me during class and even the other kids ignored me. The only reason I was even allowed to go to school in the first place was because it meant that they wouldn't have to feed me breakfast or lunch during the day and because my aunt hated seeing my face all the time._"

Neither Kirito nor Agil responded verbally to that declaration. Instead, Harry found himself being lifted up into Agil's arms once more. Harry curled up against his friend's chest shortly after the man had sat down in Harry's chair and settled the nine year old on his lap; the distraught nine year old promptly crying himself to sleep as he was once more overwhelmed by everything that had happened to him. This time not even Harry would be able to deny the fact that he'd snuggled into Agil's embrace (the young wizard desperately craving the comfort that he'd been denied for so long); not that he'd ever admit to that out loud.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Gaki – brat  
Hajimari no Machi – Starting City or Town of Beginnings  
Ken no Sekai – Sword Art Online

**Game Terminology:**

Aincrad – **A**n **Inc**arnating **Rad**ius (the name of the Castle that is SAO)  
Experience Points – the points earned for each quest completed and each monster killed  
FullDive – the use of technology to fully immerse one's conscience in a virtual reality  
HP – **H**it **P**oints: the number of Life Force/Life Points/Health Points a person has  
Mod – short for **Mod**erator  
Nerve Gear – equipment created by Kayaba Akihiko (Argus); allows the user to enter FullDive  
NERDLES – **Ner**ve **D**irect **L**inkage **E**nvironment **S**ystem (a surgically implanted chip that allows the FullDive system to interface with the brain – the surgically implanted part may or may not be canon as it was something I thought seemed more logical than it just being part of the interface helmet)  
Player Stats – A list of a player's in game statistics and skills  
Skill Points – Experience points that are applied towards mastery of an in game skill


	6. Discussions

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out this very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am making no money whatsoever from the writing of this FanFiction._

**Warnings:** _Mild to moderate violence, character death, foul language, alternate universe (i.e. kiss HP canon goodbye), angst, drama, starts pre-Hogwarts Era, and who knows what else. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter Six: Discussions

_Wednesday, December 24, 2019 9:42 PM_

Kirito stared numbly after Agil's form as the older man carried the now sleeping kid to the bedroom he'd cleaned up earlier so he could tuck him into bed. The fourteen year old was having difficulty wrapping his mind around everything he'd seen and heard from the moment Agil had asked for his help in locating his friend four days earlier. Kirito would have helped no matter what because he owed Agil a favor and he would not have wanted the guilt of another's death on his shoulders, but when he heard that it was Tracker James that was missing he'd dropped everything else to lend a hand.

The name Tracker James had become fairly well known before the beta test ended and had been bantered about in the pubs from around the end of the second week after the launch of the official version. Kirito had never personally met the man but he had heard of his skills in tracking, trapping, and treasure hunting from many different sources. Rumors had said the guy could track and catch anything that was not a boss monster and that he could find any item, ingredient, or raw material with nothing more than half a fact.

Most of the rumors were, without a doubt, exaggerations but they all hinted at the fact that the man was a highly skilled player. He was also known to be friendly if shy and prone to long silences, completely honest, and usually willing to help others. Three traits that ensured he got along with most of the other players that crossed paths with him even if he was considered something of a recluse; that was especially true after everyone had been trapped within the game six weeks earlier.

Very few people have had anything bad to say about Tracker James and those that did were often the ones that had tried to cheat the man after hiring him to find an item. According to what he'd heard, the man wasn't much of a fighter and tended to solve the conflicts he had with other players with creative and humiliating pranks made from traps that could be used within a town because they were harmless.

So Kirito had jumped at the chance to meet Tracker James since very few people knew how to find or track the man out in the dungeons and fields (rumors said the man rarely ventured into any of the various towns). He hadn't even known Agil was a friend of the hermit-like tracker until the black man had sought his help in finding the missing man. When he'd first heard what had happened in the forest from one of the guild members that had last seen Tracker James, he was certain that the man was dead; which Kirito thought was a real shame since the man's skills were useful and because any deaths were tragic within the deadly game they'd been trapped inside.

It wasn't until Agil revealed that James's name was still active on his Friend List that he reconsidered his belief that the man had died. Kirito had tried to confirm the man's status among the living by taking a trip to the Monument of Life but all he had found was a blank section of stone where the man's name should have appeared. But a lack of name did not equate death since those that died had had their names crossed out with a line and the date and cause of death listed beside their name on the monument. It was a confusing puzzle.

A mere eight hours after the incident, the Guild Leader that Tracker James had been working for on his last job led Kirito and Agil into the part of the forest where the group had faced a large pack of Furgrin and a minor Boss Monster. The man had then apologized again to Agil (for abandoning James in a moment of weakness – the man had been both terrified and horrified over what had happened and feared he and his guild would be struck next) before leaving. Kirito wasted no time in picking up James's trail from the Furgrin clearing and followed it to where the final trap had been activated to finish off the last of the minions while the guild fought the boss.

The tracks around that half dismantled trap had been confusing; it looked as if James had been rolling and thrashing about all over the clearing for several more hours. The weirdest part had been the smaller set of tracks that walked away from the area; tracks which were also the only tracks leaving the area. Kirito and Agil had followed those tracks through the forest to a small clearing where they led straight to an old stump in the middle of the clearing before they disappeared completely; stopping only to deal with the various monsters that attacked them (including a large pack of Ravenous Wolves that had attacked them just before they reached the stump clearing).

The trail appeared to have been obliterated by the tracks of the Wolves and it almost looked as if the Wolves had killed whatever or whoever it was that they had been following. There were a handful of discarded traps lying about the stump but no sign of whoever it was that had set them up. A short search of the stump and the clearing revealed no hidden hiding places or new trails and Agil had sunk his axe into the stump in frustration.

When they found no new clues after searching the area several times, Kirito and Agil had left the forest to check the small handful of places that James frequented when he deigned to visit the various towns on the off-chance that James had found his way out of the minor Dungeon. He hadn't or if he had, he'd gone to ground in yet another Dungeon. The two of them returned to the forest just after sunrise and continued searching for any clue as to where James had gone. Using a spiral search pattern, they'd moved out into the forest beyond the clearing with the stump on the off chance that the man had taken to the trees in order to escape the clearing to prevent the nighttime predators from picking up his trail.

In the back of his mind, Kirito also began wondering if maybe the smaller footprints meant that some monster had finished the man off and then left but James's name was still active on Agil's Friend List (even if the locator function that let a person find their friends through the Map was not working for some reason). He knew that without asking because the black man had unfailingly sent James another message once an hour in the hopes that James would respond to one of them. The longer Tracker James remained silent the more worried and desperate Agil had grown. The merchant had even started to get angry by the second day of the search though there was also true fear beneath the anger since James apparently had no reason to ignore Agil; which meant he was incapable of replying for some reason.

It was late afternoon on the third day of the search when Agil finally got a reply; firm evidence that James was still alive. The older man had let out a sigh of relief and flashed a grin at Kirito before responding to the reply. Kirito had spent the next five minutes watching Agil grow increasingly frustrated as James had stubbornly refused to cooperate and let them know where he was. He'd then started cursing as James ignored the next handful of messages and Kirito had resumed his efforts to pick up James's trail in order to give the irritated man some space.

Agil had gone from frustrated and angry to fearful just a couple of hours later when James finally gave in and sent another reply. Kirito could still recall the abject horror on Agil's face when the man had glanced up at Kirito after reading through the note and revealed that James had just sent him what amounted to a suicide note. The fourteen year old had been stunned that a man he'd respected (due to his reputation alone since he'd never met the man) could be broken in what seemed like the blink of an eye.

Kirito had then grown nervous at the thought that there might be something truly frightening out there that Tracker James had stumbled upon and if it broke the man rumored to tackle hoards of monsters with nothing more than a cheap dagger and an arsenal of mere traps, then what chance did a boy like him have against it even with a sword?

Agil didn't seem to care about anything except for getting to his friend in time to prevent him from taking his own life and once Agil had gotten the general location of his friend the two of them had taken off at a dead run with Agil passing on the news that his friend had ended up trapped beneath the nesting tree of a flock of Carrion Crows. As Kirito ran beside the taller man, he mentally ran through every possible attack in his repertoire and tried to recall whether or not the Carrion Crows had a boss monster. He prayed that he had leveled up enough to at least hold his own against whatever monster the other man had stumbled upon aside from the crows long enough for Agil to teleport James out before any of them died.

Out of all the possible scenarios that he'd feared they were running into, Kirito never expected to find a frightened child beleaguered by a the largest flock of Carrion Crows he'd ever run into at the end of the trail. Apparently, that hadn't been what Agil was expecting either given the shocked expression he'd seen on the older man's face at the time.

There'd been almost no time to analyze the situation once they got within seven yards of the tree due to the entire flock of Carrion Crows mobbing them from above. The viciousness of the attack had taken Kirito's breath away as both he and Agil desperately fought to reach the kid who'd been buried beneath the largest group of flying monsters (no easy feat due to the fact that an ill-timed attack could kill the person they were trying to save). The battle had ended abruptly about ten minutes after it started when the kid had used a strange wide ranged attack that had taken out all of the remaining crows in a single move.

Agil and Kirito had both moved closer at that point in order to better protect the kid if the crows returned and Kirito was only half surprised to see the kid startle and bolt when Agil's shadow had fallen on him; the kid had obviously feared he was being attacked again. When the child confirmed that he was indeed Tracker James, Kirito had been more than a little shocked as he couldn't imagine a child earning Tracker James's reputation. He temporarily forgot all about age and reputation the moment he'd seen the _bloodstains_ on the ruined clothes that James was wearing in addition to the blood he could see running in rivulets from the very realistic looking injuries that the kid was covered in.

Wanting to get a closer look, Kirito had made to grab the kid's arm only to freeze in surprise when the kid practically bolted in order to avoid the touch. Kirito just figured the kid was still rather skittish after the recent brutal encounter with the crows and simply backed up and sat down as he introduced himself in hopes that it would put the kid at ease. He was a bit disappointed when the kid hadn't responded in kind but figured the kid would get around to it eventually when he wasn't so shaken and it wasn't like Kirito really needed an introduction after Agil had confirmed that the child was indeed his missing friend.

The short question and answer session that had followed had been more than a little bizarre.

Kirito had been impressed with the kid's cunningness and luck in keeping his true appearance and age from being discovered like everyone else's had on the opening day of the game. Finding out that the kid had only had a limited understanding of Japanese at the time (the only language the game had been released in as far as he knew) gave new insight to Tracker James's apparent shyness. The kid had obviously wished to avoid drawing attention to himself by openly advertising the fact that he didn't know the language (something that would have had every single crook in the game targeting the poor kid).

That he'd still managed to muddle through the game (both the beta and live version) as long as he had without a firm grasp of the language was an impressive feat in and of itself since you needed to understand the language to use the menu and interact with the other players and the computer generated characters.

Listening to James explain part of what had happened to him hadn't really shed any light on the mystery of why his avatar had been reverted to his actual appearance so late in the game. What it had done was confuse the hell out of Kirito because the kid claimed that he'd felt pain; something that should not have been possible within the game due to the way that the Nerve Gear functioned. Then again, it should not have been possible for someone to bleed and the kid was without a doubt bleeding at the time (something Kirito wouldn't have believed possible if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes).

Learning that the kid was only nine, had sort of stolen his gaming equipment, and was actually able to connect to the game using an improperly implanted NERDLES had been mind boggling. Hearing James talk about how no one would care that he'd been trapped in the death game with everyone else had been disturbing. The revelation that the nine year old had been orphaned in a car crash at infancy and ended up in the care of his aunt and uncle had been surreal; since that was exactly what had happened to Kirito. The implications and hints that James's guardians, his _relatives_, were abusing him were enough to make Kirito sick.

James's emotional break down after confessing his reasons for playing the game had made Kirito feel more than a little guilty over his inability to answer the kid's borderline hysterical demands to know what had happened to him. It might have been unreasonable for him to feel that way but he hadn't been able to help himself at the time due to how horrible the kid had looked covered in his own blood and how broken he'd sounded. Watching the kid totally shut off his emotions in the blink of an eye before falling into a defensively submissive stance the moment Agil had stood up and approached the kid had made his skin crawl; that kind of reaction was _not_ normal.

Kirito hadn't known what to think or feel after he had seen and heard James's reaction to being hugged by Agil. The startling confession that he'd never been hugged before and had actually thought hugs hurt had made Kirito pity the younger boy as he himself had many fond memories of his foster parents hugging him in his younger years. He couldn't imagine what it must have been like to never receive a hug when he got home from school, when he did something that made his parents proud, when he was feeling sad or scared, or at night when his parents tucked him into bed.

Kirito had felt guilty for interrupting that moment but they weren't exactly in the safest of places and the Carrion Crows had been regenerating steadily during the entire conversation.

Things had only gotten weirder once they'd returned to Agil's apartment. The odd anomalies that occurred around the kid had been more than a little troubling and difficult to believe but he'd seen the evidence with his own eyes. The way the kid's hair had still been dripping wet after his shower and how the damp spots on his shirt had grown larger with each drop that fell from his hair (something that shouldn't have been possible). The fact that his injuries hadn't stopped bleeding as fresh bloodstains blossomed across the clean shirt he'd changed into. The way the first aide supplies seemed to temporarily fail each time he treated another of the kid's numerous bleeding wounds.

And then the thing with the food; oh how he'd been jealous when he'd watched the kid slice his bread roll in half and properly smear butter and jam on both sides before devouring the food. The way the jam had smeared across the kid's face hadn't helped and Kirito almost hated the kid in that instant. James had no doubt sensed Kirito's growing emotional conflict because the kid had tried to share the food only for it to revert to the game standard fare the moment he let go of it after handing it to Kirito. The unselfish gesture had actually helped Kirito push the jealousy aside and allowed him to laugh it off as he teasingly accused the kid of pranking him with the food.

The brief moment of levity hadn't lasted beyond the meal however; James had grown depressed and frightened the instant Agil had started the next round of questioning. That entire discussion had left a bad taste in Kirito's mouth. He had seen right through James's attempt at skirting around the truth of what had really been bothering him (the kid had used a tactic that Kirito often used himself by admitting to a partial truth but his failure to completely hide his emotions had given him away). For the second time that day, Kirito had been blindsided by a situation that he had not been expecting.

The first time had been when he learned that the man know as Tracker James was in actuality a _nine_ year old boy.

He had first thought the kid's new classification and HP issues were just part of a weird system glitch that would fix itself in time right up until the kid had spoken again of shattering repeatedly; something the members of the guild that had last seen Tracker James had described in great detail with obvious horror several days earlier. That alone was troubling but what had really bothered Kirito was the child's terrified worries that his aunt and uncle had not seen to it that his body was taken to the hospital so that he didn't die while trapped in the game.

Something that the teen feared had been confirmed in a round about way due to the painfully thin appearance of the kid after he'd removed his shirt. The bruises that had been revealed at the same time were yet another indication of a less than pleasant home life – the teen unaware that the younger boy had gotten them when he'd fallen out of the tree.

To hear the kid state with conviction that there was _no one_ who would be concerned if he disappeared off the face of the earth had made Kirito depressed. To be told that the only reasons the kid had been allowed to attend school was so his caregivers wouldn't have to feed him or see him for several hours per day had Kirito feeling like he was going to vomit (an action that he was thankful the game couldn't simulate – unaware that James had bypassed that feature as well). Sure, the kid claimed his aunt and uncle never beat him but if they were willing to torment him mentally and emotionally, then what was stopping them from lashing out psychically at the boy?

The bruises again being glaringly obvious.

"_When I get out of this game I'm going to hunt down those bastards and give them a piece of my mind,_" Agil growled when he stalked back into the room, dropped down heavily into his chair, and scowled at the table. "_And I'm going to punctuate each word with my fist!_"

"_I'll help,_" Kirito offered with a scowl of his own as he briefly glanced towards the bedrooms before turning back to face the older man. "_What are you going to do in the mean time?_"

"_Help the gaki survive the game._"

"_He should have never been in the game in the first place._"

"_Doesn't change the fact that he's here now,_" Agil retorted with a frustrated sigh as he sat back and crossed his arms over his chest. "_I always knew that he wasn't as old as he appeared to be but after believing that everyone had been unmasked on Opening Day, I didn't once think he was quite that young. It certainly explains some of his more puzzling reactions to various situations; such as the look of pure disgust on his face the first time I ordered him a mug of ale at the Hunter's Pub and Inn. Or his reaction when I asked him if he had a girlfriend. It also explains why he never came right out and told me his age._"

"_I've never had it in real life so I don't know if it's normal but the alcohol they serve in the game is pretty gross until you get used to the taste,_" Kirito pointed out with a tight grin and a forced laugh. "_I still avoid ordering any unless there is nothing else available._"

"_It's no different on the outside,_" Agil confirmed with a strained laugh of his own. He grew serious again when he leaned forward and addressed Kirito. "_I want to thank you for helping me find James. I hate to think what might have happened to him if we'd not gotten to him when we did. As far as I'm concerned, you've more than paid me back for the favor you owed me and I'm back to owing you another favor instead._"

"_No, you don't owe me anything; I wasn't really all that much to help, seeing as how I lost his trail that first night. If anything, I now owe you two favors for failing you,_" Kirito countered with a shake of his head; the fourteen year old still frustrated over the fact that he'd not been able to find James that first day like he'd originally expected to (the teen had been far too overconfident in his Game Skills).

"_Well, if you really feel that way, then maybe you could help me out with something._"

"_Oh? What did you have in mind?_"

"_When I was looking at James's player stats earlier, I noticed that he had three unfilled Skill Slots; one of which I imagine he would have gained when he reached level thirty. I don't know if he was holding off on filling them because he hadn't decided what skill he wanted to learn next or if he was simply waiting until he mastered the first ten; though how he ended up with an extra four Skill Slots is a complete mystery, since as far as I know, everyone started out with six Skill Slots at the start of the game._"

"_Do you think the extra slots might have something to do with the same glitch that changed his classification and messed up his HP Count?_"

"_I doubt it; the numbers don't match since he has ten slots filled and all ten of those skills have at least six hundred Skill Points – meaning that he's been working on mastering them for a while now._"

"_As weird as that is, what does the number of Skill Slots that James has have to do with the favor you wanted?_"

"_I'd like your help in teaching James a couple of fighting skills. I'd teach him myself but he isn't strong enough or tall enough to handle a two handed axe; which is what I wield for a weapon. What he needs is to learn a bit of sword work; something you are very good at._"

"_What attack skills does he currently have?_"

"_None._"

Surprised over the unexpected answer, Kirito furrowed his brow in confusion as he demanded, "_Wait a minute, are you telling me he doesn't have any fighting skills at all? Are you sure? How has he survived all this time, let alone reached level thirty already, if he didn't have any fighting skills?_"

"_All of his equipped skills are geared towards trapping and evading, I checked to see what skills he had while he had his stats page open earlier. He completely mastered Tracking and Trapping and is close to mastering Night Vision, Sprint, and Searching; he needs less than two hundred more skill points in those categories to gain mastery. The other five skills he has are Detection, Fishing, Hiding, Listening, and Acrobatics and all of them are over halfway mastered._"

"_Until seeing his stats for myself, I'd thought he'd been hiding at least one attack skill. Even his unequipped skills are geared towards his chosen occupation (Escape, Navigation, Scouting, Camping, and Research) and out of those skills he's already mastered Escape and Camping with Scouting fairly high as well. As for how he survived and managed to level up so quickly; he spent ninety_ _percent of his time out in the dungeons trapping monsters. He was damn good at it too._"

"_I went with him on a hunt once about two weeks ago; to track a large pack of level nineteen Ravenous Wolves that had somehow made their way to the first floor. He found their den, set up a single trap, and the moment the sun had set we lured them straight to his trap. I killed two while the other five died when they fell into the Pit Trap he'd set up. That he is questioning the skills he has diligently honed for the last six weeks bothers me greatly; especially when you take into consideration that the traps he uses are game generated based upon his actions._"

"_Alright, say I agree to try and teach him a few things; are you sure he'll be willing to learn? Will the standard attacks still work once he takes hold of a sword?_" Kirito asked after he gave the older man's request serious consideration. "_I know you saw what happened when I dealt with his injuries. I had to fight against some kind of barrier in order to treat and bandage his injuries and the fact that there was a significant delay before the items actually did their job would spell death if that happened when he was using a sword while in a fight. Logically, based upon what we learned tonight, the same thing will happen when he picks up a sword._"

"_That doesn't change the fact that he's going to need a way to defend himself; I can't keep him locked up inside of my apartment indefinitely and I doubt I could force him to stay inside the town for long either,_" Agil pointed out tiredly as he ran a hand over his face. "_I think he'd be willing enough to learn if the idea is presented to him in such a way that he won't think we're trying to take his choices away from him._"

"A_s for the various anomalies that keep cropping up around the gaki and the chances that they'll also affect any sword skills he learns…? I don't know. It's just one more thing we're going to have to figure out as we go. Hopefully, if the glitch affects any weapons he picks up, it will affect them much like it affect his food tonight; making it behave more realistically rather than having the blade's attacks lag behind by ten or fifteen seconds any time he tries to use it._"

"_I wonder if that was part of the reason why the crows made him bleed instead of dropping his Hit Points. Could their beaks and talons have changed, like the food had, the moment they touched him?_" Kirito mused as he considered what Agil had told him. "_That would make far more sense than it would be for normal attacks to harm him and if that is true, then maybe just teaching him how to properly hold a sword and maybe a few basic stances would help him against the beast monsters. However, that wouldn't help him against boss monsters or humanoid monsters that handle weapons and it also wouldn't really help him in a duel with another player._"

"_James never duels; aside from the fact that he has no sword skills, he simply refuses to accept any challenges. If he intends to go back out into the dungeons, then he's going to need something aside from his dagger; especially if his trapping skills have become corrupted like he seems to believe they did. A lightweight short sword made of something durable would be ideal; even if all he can do is stab the beast that attacks him. He is used to dodging monsters and knows most of their weak spots so he should be fine once he regains his confidence._"

"_So long as he agrees to the lessons, I don't mind helping him. I just don't want to force him into something he doesn't want to do,_" Kirito stated as he came to a decision. "_Kid's got enough problems without us pushing him into something he doesn't want to do. Do you know where James lives in-game? The idea of sending him home to an empty house or apartment after everything that's happened to him bothers me._"

"_As far as I know, he doesn't have a home and I know for a fact that he prefers to camp outside in the various Dungeons most days rather than rent a room. I've been seriously considering trying to talk him into staying here with me since I have more than enough space but I don't know if he'd see that as me trying to lock him up or not. He's just stubborn enough to snub such an offer if he believes it to be a trap._"

"_You were already planning on helping to find a way to allow the kid to stay independent; why not hire him to help you in your shop? You could offer him room and board plus a small salary in exchange for his help to organize everything,_" Kirito suggested with a smirk as he gestured towards the piles of junk cluttering up the apartment. "_Once he feels a little more confident, you can even let him handle deliveries and such; which would allow him to travel freely._"

"_I was already planning to offer him a job but didn't say anything to him earlier because I feared he would refuse due to how shaken up he's been since we found him. Actually, looking back, he's probably been in a constant state of panic or near panic since the glitch occurred. It would certainly explain why it took him so long to reply to my messages and why he tried to convince me to leave him alone._"

"_I still have a hard time seeing Tracker James when I look at him._"

"_That's right; I'd forgotten that you had not met James before today. I think you'd have gotten along really well with him; he was always smiling no matter what he was doing, forever eager to face the next challenge, and friendly with most everyone though at times he was painfully shy. Prior to this whole fiasco, he was the only player I've met to date that truly didn't care that he'd been trapped in the game. In fact, I always thought he was a bit crazy in the head because he seemed content and at home inside the game._"

"_Can you blame him given what little we've learned about his home life?_" Kirito asked quietly as he glanced off in the direction of the room that Agil had taken James. "_I'd see Aincrad as home too if I had to live with people who told me it would have been better if I'd died with my parents._"

Agil didn't reply and Kirito really didn't need him to because he knew what the older man would say; it was written all over the man's face, after all. The two of them sat there in silence for nearly an hour before a piercing scream caught them off guard as it rang out through the apartment and they rushed into the guest room where they found James trapped in the throws of a nightmare.

Kirito sighed; it was going to be a long night.

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Gaki – brat

**Game Terminology:**

Aincrad – **A**n **Inc**arnating **Rad**ius (the name of the Castle that is SAO)  
Dungeon – an area within the game where players can attack or be attacked by monsters (or other players)  
Experience Points – the points earned for each quest completed and each monster killed  
FullDive – the use of technology to fully immerse one's conscience in a virtual reality  
HP – **H**it **P**oints: the number of Life Force/Life Points/Health Points a person has  
Nerve Gear – equipment created by Kayaba Akihiko (Argus); allows the user to enter FullDive  
NERDLES – **Ner**ve **D**irect **L**inkage **E**nvironment **S**ystem (a surgically implanted chip that allows the FullDive system to interface with the brain – the surgically implanted part may or may not be canon as it was something I thought seemed more logical than it just being part of the interface helmet)  
Player Stats – A list of a player's in game statistics and skills  
Skill Points – Experience points that are applied towards mastery of an in game skill

**Note:** _Kirito vs. Kirigaya Kazuto – okay, I wanted to get this out there now before I got any flames for it; yes, I know that Kazuto is Kirito's real name. The reason I have him refer to himself as Kirito in this chapter is because he is inside of the game and as far as he is concerned, he is Kirito at this point because that was his identity in the game. _

_And before you scream inconsistencies at me and bring up the whole Harry vs. James thing, Harry knows that he is Harry despite the fact that he tells everyone his name is James; he has not given up his identity, he's trying to disassociate his real life from the game but he doesn't really know how to do that. Harry said it clearly in his letter to Agil a chapter or two ago, he was pretending to be someone else; meaning that deep down he was still fully aware of who he was regardless of what name he called himself._

_Kazuto, on the other hand, is both older than him and far more comfortable leaving his 'real' self behind when he enters a game because he'd been involved in RPGs for far longer than Harry. There's also the fact that Harry's imagination was stifled by the Dursleys; something that would further hinder his ability to separate himself from the game (a fact that was noted a chapter or two ago when I made a comment about him having trouble controlling his emotions from the moment he first started playing SAO – an indication that his life as Tracker James was bleeding into his real life just like his real life is bleeding into Tracker James (his shyness and desire to avoid people not entirely due to the language barrier thought that contributed to it as well). _

_I hope that clears things up for everyone… _


	7. Education

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out this very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am making no money whatsoever from the writing of this FanFiction._

**Warnings:** _Mild to moderate violence, character death, foul language, alternate universe (i.e. kiss HP canon goodbye), angst, drama, starts pre-Hogwarts Era, and who knows what else. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter Seven: Education

_Wednesday, December 27, 2019 10:36 AM_

Harry had ended up sleeping (if you could call the short periods of rest he got between nightmares sleep) for close to three days straight as his soul healed from the damage done by the crows and by the traumatic integration of his soul into the game. On top of that, he needed to regenerate the magic he'd used; a process that took far longer than normal because his soul was currently cut off from the earth and his magical core locked inside the stasis spell preserving his body. And because his core was inaccessible, he was unable to draw in any ambient magic with which to replace the bulk of what he used; meaning that his soul was forced to generate far more of the magic itself than it usually did (which is why it took so long).

During that time, both Agil and Kirito took turns watching over the troubled child; the two of them offering him comfort after each nightmare and encouraging him to eat and drink whenever he was partially conscious.

When Harry did finally truly wake up, he remained numb and detached for several hours before he snapped back into focus (as if someone had just flipped a switch inside of his brain to turn it on). He remained fairly withdrawn after that; the nine year old feeling lost and uncertain still. He probably would have slunk off with his tail between his legs and found someplace to hole up out in one of the Dungeons if not for Agil quickly putting a stop to his one and only attempt to sneak out of the apartment. It was Kirito that eventually brought Harry out of his funk, the teen still child enough to draw Harry into various games and activities (like pillow fights and word games).

The moment Harry was no longer broody and twitchy, Agil sat him down and carefully explained the proposal that he and Kirito had come up with to help Harry survive the game. To the surprise of both man and teen, Harry had simply shrugged his shoulders and said okay to both the job and the lessons. When asked why he wasn't even making a token rebellious refusal (as they'd half expected him to), Harry had dryly told them he was stubborn not stupid which had made Kirito crack up and Agil shake his head. Harry and Kirito had then added each other to their Friend List while Kirito quizzed Harry on his skills.

Agil had made choking sounds when Harry had confessed that he'd never used a sword in the game because he'd killed himself each and every time he'd tried in the beta version; even after gaining enough experience. Kirito had stared at him in shock while demanding to know why he'd been so drawn to a game called _Sword_ Art Online if he couldn't use a sword despite the simplicity of the attacks that had been programmed into the game. Harry had shrugged and said he just wanted to see what his cousin had found so fascinating about the game and had stayed because he'd fallen in love with the world of Aincrad and the freedom he had to chose who he wanted to be.

Harry's new training started with Agil dragging him down into the shop in order for him to pick out the perfect sword for him to use (one with the least amount of attack points in order to prevent needless mishaps). Kirito joined them and the teen sat on the counter and laughed as Agil rummaged through the shop for various weapons while Harry would refuse each blade that was proffered. Each time he refused a weapon, Harry would tell the pair exactly how he'd killed himself with a version of that particular blade in the beta test (some deaths were particularly violent and a few were just plain stupid while others were so comical they could have come straight out of a Monty Python skit).

In the end, Harry picked out a Highland Dirk that was more dagger than sword. The blade itself was twelve inches long and made from durable steel, shaped like an elongated triangle (the tip of which was slightly rounded like a spike and very sharp), and serrated along one edge. The blade was set into a hilt made from what looked like a section of antler from a stag. Unlike most of the longer swords, the hilt of the dirk fit perfectly in Harry's diminutive hand and he had enough practice handling an eight inch dagger that the additional four inches wouldn't hinder him. All in all, it was the perfect learner's blade for Harry and once he was competent enough he could move up to something with a bit more length (though he wouldn't).

When Harry had tried to pay for the sword, Agil told him to close out his menu and to consider the blade a belated Christmas gift. Harry had jumped and stared at the older man with wide green eyes filled with confusion and wonder over that little declaration; he'd never been given any presents for Christmas before and had no idea what was expected of him in return. Kirito had further muddied the waters when he'd given Harry a jar of honey that he'd won on a side quest. After much internal debate, Harry had given Agil a couple of high quality Furgrin pelts (which could be made into protective clothing) and Kirito received a large clump of sweet Winter Berries (a hard to find but not quite rare treat in the game) that the nine year old had gained from that last battle with the Carrion Crows.

Harry had worn a huge grin for the rest of the day; the kid thrilled over the fact that he'd been able to give his friend**s** (emphasis on the plural) Christmas gifts for the first time ever.

Having direction in his life once more, even if it was under the guidance of an adult, helped Harry regain a measure of equilibrium though he still hadn't recovered his happy-go-lucky persona that had been the one of his trademarks as Tracker James. He enjoyed working for Agil and he secretly loved the fact that the man constantly taught him as they worked; he helped him to further improve his grasp of Japanese, taught him Italian and Spanish, quizzed him on math basics so he'd not forget too much (the other subjects harder to cover without textbooks), and built on his in-game knowledge of the various weapons, armor, and materials that passed through the shop.

Harry in turn helped organize the shop (and avoided any weapon larger than a dirk), cleaned up the upstairs apartment they shared (even though Agil insisted he didn't have to), and after the first two weeks ran errands and deliveries for Agil. During a couple of evenings a week and on weekends, Kirito would pop round to take Harry out to the fields to help him get used to handling his new weapon. When he could, Agil would tag along for those lessons and encourage Harry to test out his other skills (to make certain he didn't lose any Skill Points through disuse).

After witnessing first hand how winded Harry was after the first couple of lessons, Agil and Kirito helped Harry create an exercise regime that would strengthen his in-game body. They doubted the exercises would have any effect on his physical body but those exercises did seem to have an effect on his in-game stamina (the exercises actually strengthening his soul while the sword lessons and other skills exercised his magic).

The only reason they'd even gone that route was for the psychological benefit since they hadn't really believed the exercises would have any impact on his game avatar. That they had affected his performance was a bit of a shock. Once they got over their shock, they chalked the effects up to the same glitch that made Items behave more realistically around the nine year old.

By mid-February, Harry had regained much of his confidence with the help of Agil and Kirito. He'd also learned that he still retained the ability to use all of his in-game skills despite the odd delays that plagued each skill the first time he'd use each of the various abilities after the glitch. The knowledge that he could still use those skills had been the biggest factor in regaining his confidence. The only hurdle that remained in his way was reaching level thirty-one (something he had stubbornly refused to do); Harry was terrified of reaching the next level.

His memory of the pain that he'd felt after what had happened when he reached level thirty had not faded in the least. He still suffered through nightmares about that day on a regular basis (and he still believed the glitch was triggered by his reaching level thirty instead of a mere coincidence of timing).

Harry would finally bite the bullet and level up at the end of February, after Agil had sat him down and told him that he'd never grow any stronger if he let his fears hold him back. The man had then immediately threatened to haul him up to the fourth floor (which had been cleared by the second week of January) and lock him into the nearest Dungeon until he reached the next level. Collecting the last needed experience points had been a rather easy if stressful experience for Harry but he had not been alone this time (Agil had stayed by his side the entire time).

When it was over and nothing had happened beyond the normal level increases (though his gold HP bar hadn't appeared to change), he had a far easier time continuing to grow as a player. He still feared each rise in level though and would make certain he was some where he felt relatively safe before making the kill that would bump him up; so as not to be trapped in the middle of nowhere all alone again should he get stuck in another glitch. Agil or Kirito often tagged along for those battles in order to lend him moral support until he felt more confident.

During this time, Harry's unrecognized magic continued to scan and replicate each piece of gaming code it encountered; transmuting game based attacks into magic based attacks that mimicked the game attacks perfectly. It even began integrating itself into the menu each time Harry used the various menu features. By the middle of March, Harry would be unconsciously using his magic to interact with every aspect of the game and the more he used his magic, the more magic his soul created in order to keep up with the demand and the faster it began producing that magic.

His magic was also starting to affect other aspects of the game but the changes were so small that no one really noticed them (traces of his magic staying with those items he carried in his Inventory or handled on a regular basis even long after he sold or traded them off). At the same time, the young wizard's magic was undergoing changes of its own as the computer code it absorbed and replicated altered the way Harry's magic functioned on a primitive level.

Towards the end of March, after reaching level thirty-five, Harry began to once again enter the various dungeons on the first five floors in order to collect items in between delivery jobs. He no longer took on any clients (Tracker James was believed to be dead due to his last client spreading tales of how he'd shattered over the previous months) and any time he went above the third floor he had company in the form of Agil or Kirito but Harry didn't mind in the least. He felt (in some ways) that he had more freedom now than he had had as Tracker James.

Of course, being a child within the game had its drawbacks too.

The ALF, or the Army as they were now called by most players due to how large the guild had grown, gave him considerable grief every time he tried to leave Hajimari no Machi or one of the other villages where they had members stationed. He'd had to get extremely creative in his methods of leaving the village as the older players in the Army went out of their way to keep him and the other children (who were all four years older than Harry) inside of the village. Harry understood their reasons for doing so but that didn't make the restrictions they tried to impose on him any more tolerable in his mind.

They even attempted to prevent him from using the Teleport Gates to travel between floors to make deliveries; those that tried were humiliated with creative pranks.

April first of the year twenty-twenty marked the end of Harry's lessons with Kirito, though the two of them still kept in contact. On the eighth, Harry learned that Kirito joined the Black Cats of the Full Moon Guild and he wished the teen good luck in his efforts to help the relatively low leveled guild members to grow stronger. Harry, in the mean time, worked towards gaining level forty (which he feared would trigger another torturous glitch because of the significance of the level). He also worked on mastering his last five skills (which included One Handed Sword, Parry, Light Shield Equipment, Hiding, and Acrobatics – with the first three barely in the four hundreds as the first two were the ones Kirito had chosen to teach him and the third was one Agil had asked him to pick up; so that he could wear armor to protect himself).

At the start of the third week of April, Harry took his first solo trip up to the front line since the glitch in order to truly test his skills so he knew whether or not he could rely upon himself in a sticky situation. Agil had wanted to go with him but Harry had been determined to go alone because he felt he was relying too much on the older man to bail him out if things took a turn for the worse. He did, on the other hand, promise to message Agil if he got into any trouble that he couldn't handle.

Harry returned to the apartment he still shared with Agil in the dead of night five days later seriously injured, physically and magically exhausted, and his HP bar down to a sliver once more (Harry still unaware of his magic) but in no way beaten. As Agil treated and bandaged the twin gashes on his face, Harry regaled the older man with a blow by blow account of his recent adventure with a level of excitement and wonder that he'd not exhibited since he'd been caught in the glitch at level thirty.

"_It was amazing, Agil…_"

* * *

_Several days earlier…  
Tuesday, April 21, 2020 8:15 AM_

Harry stepped into the colossal forest and stared up at the trees with wide eyes. He felt a thread of fear snake its way through his heart as the solitude pressed down on him for a moment (making him feel completely insignificant) but he quickly beat it down as he took the time to appreciate the beauty of the forest dungeon. After a few minutes, he began moving deeper into the forest, taking care to keep an eye (and an ear) out for any monsters that were lurking near by.

He'd only been in the forest for two hours when he ran into the scariest monster he'd faced yet; a Killer Mantis. The giant green monstrosity was easily four times Harry's height and had wicked looking scythes instead of the usual spine like appendages on the ends of its front legs. The thing managed to slice through three of Harry's snare traps when he tried to trap it at the start of the fight and Harry cursed his luck. Knowing he couldn't go toe to toe with the creature (seeing as how he was practically snack size when compared to the monster), Harry led it on a wild goose chase through the forest as he desperately tried to put enough distance between them so he could set up a pit trap.

Harry spent three hours playing cat and mouse with the giant insect and once the initial fear wore off, he thoroughly enjoyed the challenge that the Mantis provided him. At the end of that three hour chase, Harry managed to tangle the monster up in a series of snare traps just long enough for him to set up a spiked pit trap. Getting the mantis to walk right into the trap had been easy too. The problem had been that he hadn't made the pit deep enough and while it did considerable damage to the creature, it didn't destroy it completely but it was at least no longer able to chase after him.

Avoiding the swinging scythes, Harry made his way to the back of the creature and scrambled up onto its back in order to reach its head. He then dealt the death blow to the back of the monster's head; causing the Killer Mantis to crumple forward, spilling Harry back onto the ground. The moment he was no longer touching the dead monster, it shattered into millions of pieces and Harry let out a whoop of satisfaction at the success. In all of the excitement over beating what had been a difficult opponent, Harry never noticed that he'd reached level forty without any glitches.

Over the next two days, Harry would defeat four more of the giant insectoid monsters; each defeat taking less time than the previous one and each trap better tailored to the huge monsters until he'd managed to trap and kill number five without having to use his dirk to deliver the killing blow.

He'd reached the center of the forest shortly after that final kill and found himself on the edge of a grassy clearing filled with giant moss covered boulders that were nearly as tall as the surrounding trees. On the opposite side of where he'd entered, two of the largest boulders were leaning against each other to form what looked like a huge cavern. Harry hovered on the edge of the clearing for hours after he first stumbled upon it; the nine year old feeling on edge because the clearing just screamed Boss Monster.

Harry spent his fourth day edging his way around the clearing without actually stepping foot inside of it, noting potential hiding places, perfect trap locations, and areas that would be best to avoid so as not to be trapped with no escape. His traps were pretty useless against boss monsters but they could be used to slow one down or confuse one just enough to allow him to get close enough to strike out with his dirk. He'd learned that on the many trips he'd taken with Kirito over the past few months. Sure, Harry could have walked away from whatever boss monster was lurking within the clearing but that monster was his entire reason for coming to this forest (well maybe not that _exact_ monster but one like it).

On the morning of his fifth day, Harry sent a message to Agil letting him know he was going to fight one last monster before heading back home; conveniently leaving out the fact that it was a Boss Monster he was going to face. He then stepped into the clearing with his dirk held firmly in one gloved hand and a coil of razor wire in the other (a rather sturdy wire that could cut through a tree like a knife through butter that Harry had been saving it for a moment like this). The instant he reached the center of the clearing, a mighty roar echoed through the forest as a great moss covered monster emerged from the depths of the cave.

The beast was huge, standing several feet taller than a Killer Mantis, and its burnished deep green scales glistened in the sunlight that shone into the clearing. The dark brown fur that grew between the scales was green and yellow with moss and tangled to the point that it was matted into thick, rope-like strands in places. It had a long and sinuous body (like that of a snake or a serpent), a long tail tipped with deadly looking blood-red spikes, four stubby legs, and it stood on clawed feet that ended in serrated red talons the color of blood. Its head was a cross between a lizard, a dragon, and a bird; sharp looking horns, long pointed ears, long snout, mouthful of needle sharp teeth, and a beak like protrusion on the tip of its mouth.

Its glowing acid-yellow eyes fixed themselves on Harry at that moment and the creature roared a second time as it unfurled ragged bat-like wings that were covered with long ropy vines of moss and fur on the outside.

Harry had just stumbled upon the Forest Boss; the Mossy Wyvern.

He only had a few seconds to take in the breathtaking sight of the beast looming over him before it attacked. The wyvern was fast and ferocious as it attacked Harry with mouth, claws, wings, and tail. Its powerful attacks did considerable damage to the boulders lining the clearing each time Harry dodged the attacks and Harry suspected that he'd die a most painful death if the creature managed to catch him with an attack. The first hour of the battle was spent analyzing the wyvern's attack patterns and searching for any weaknesses that the beast might have while Harry continued to dodge each attack.

The next four hours would be spent whittling away at the wyvern's HP using his dirk and an assortment of snare and net traps. Twice, Harry was nearly smashed by foot or tail when he didn't dodge fast enough and twice his still unrecognized magic rose up around him to shield him from the fatal blow. Towards the end of the fifth hour of battle, he scored his first big hit against the creature when he damaged its right eye with a well timed thrust of his dirk. The wyvern had retaliated by raking him across the face with its claws. The pain had triggered another accidental outburst as his magic called down white lightning from the heavens and electrocuted the wyvern in response; dropping the creature's HP down into the red.

Harry had finished it off at that point by driving his dirk into the creature's left eye before wrapping its neck tight with the razor wire and pulling tight as he jumped from the beast's back; the wire slicing through the weaker scales on the underside of the wyvern's neck. Collapsing to the ground, Harry had stared dazedly up at the beast he'd slain as it exploded with the sound of shattering glass just seconds after he'd fallen. A grin had formed on his face as he passed out from a combination of pain and exhaustion at that point.

* * *

_Present…  
Sunday, April 26, 2020 10:25 PM_

"…_and I didn't wake up until after night had fallen. The Mossy Wyvern was a magnificent creature though, Agil! The way it moved and how fast it could whip around and attack. You should have seen the way his claws ripped through the boulders in the clearing as if they'd been made from butter! I swear his teeth were three times as long as I am tall and sharper than your axe._"

"_Baka, you could have been killed!_" Agil growled as he scowled at Harry.

"_No. I would not have died no matter what,_" Harry countered with quiet conviction, his earlier enthusiasm dimming in the wake of the worry and fear he'd heard in Agil's voice. "_Any time I was about to take a fatal blow, this glowing gold shield would form around me and stop the attack. When the wyvern raked his claws down my face, white lightening shot down out of the sky and hit the monster; dropping its HP down into the red. It was almost like magic, Agil, the way I won that fight._"

"_There is no magic in Aincrad, James,_" Agil insisted as he finished securing the bandages across Harry's face.

"_You're wrong,_" Harry insisted as he turned to stare out the window at the full moon that hung above the skies over Hajimari no Machi. "_This entire world __**is**__ the magic. Where else would you ever find fantastical creatures like the Mossy Wyvern? Inside this game, a person's dreams can come to life and the only thing limiting them is their own strength of will. It is terrible to know that one man destroyed the wonder of Ken no Sekai by trapping everyone here because this could have been the start of something wonderful. A place where people from all over the world could have come together to share in the wonder that is Aincrad._"

"_I'm glad you have finally found yourself again, James._"

"_What do you mean, Agil?_"

"_You changed after you got caught up in that glitch and not for the better; and no, I'm not just referring to your avatar reverting to reflect your physical appearance. It was hard to see you struggle with your fears over the past few months and I had been afraid that you'd lost far more than your innocence that day. You'd been naught but a shell of your former self up until tonight._"

"_Oh._"

"_Lighten up, gaki,_" Agil admonished with a soft chuckle as he reached out to ruffle Harry's hair. "_Now you never did mention what treasures you netted from your fantastical battle with the Mossy Wyvern._"

"_Oh! You should see the two dozen or so scales I picked up! They're almost as tall as I am and harder than diamonds. I bet they'd make awesome armor or shields! And then I got something that is called the Dragon's Eye but I don't know what it's supposed to do; here, let me show it to you…_"

* * *

**Translations:** Japanese to English

Baka – idiot  
Gaki – brat  
Hajimari no Machi – Starting City or Town of Beginnings  
Ken no Sekai – Sword Art Online

**Game Terminology:**

Dungeon – an area within the game where players can attack or be attacked by monsters (or other players)  
Experience Points – the points earned for each quest completed and each monster killed  
Guild – group of players that work together for a common goal  
HP – **H**it **P**oints: the number of Life Force/Life Points/Health Points a person has  
Party – a group of two or more individuals that work together for a period of time or a set task  
SAO – **S**word **A**rt **O**nline  
Skill Points – Experience points that are applied towards mastery of an in game skill  
Sword Skills – programmed movements that initiate attacks within the game


	8. Gameover

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out this very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am making no money whatsoever from the writing of this FanFiction._

**Warnings:** _Mild to moderate violence, character death, foul language, alternate universe (i.e. kiss HP canon goodbye), angst, drama, starts pre-Hogwarts Era, and who knows what else. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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Chapter Eight: Gameover

_Saturday, November 06, 2021 9:00 AM_

Harry hitched his silvery-blue dragon scale shield up a little higher on his back as he followed Agil through the streets of Grandum (located on the fifty-fifth floor) towards the Knights of the Blood (KoB) Headquarters where a number of solo players, small player groups, and guilds were gathering to join the fight against the boss monster on the seventy-fifth level. It had taken them two years to get as far in the game as they had and during that time Harry had grown mentally, emotionally, magically, and socially. Physically, he still looked much like a seven or eight year old though he wasn't quite as scrawny looking as he'd been right after he'd reverted to his physical appearance.

As his eyes took in the various buildings, Harry let his mind wander through the memories he'd collected during the time he'd lived inside of the game. During the past year and a half, he'd continued on much as he had during those first six weeks of the game; hunting rare items, plants, and creatures throughout the various floors as he steadily leveled up. After facing his third wyvern, two months after his tenth birthday, he'd become known as Dragon Slayer James the Reckless due to the fact that he always sought out and faced the dragons and wyverns alone.

Most just called him Dragon James for short (Dragon becoming something of both a surname and a title for the eleven year old much like Tracker had been prior to the glitch that saw him striped of his avatar).

Despite the increases in his skills, abilities, and confidence, he still worked part time for Agil and continued to live with the merchant; Harry had come to see the older man as a father-figure by the time he'd turned ten (though he'd never once told Agil how he felt about him). Agil had supported and encouraged him to grow stronger as well as made certain that Harry took proper care of himself and didn't neglect his education.

Harry in turn helped the older man help the lower level players level up so that they would survive the game; bringing in rare items that could be sold for a tidy profit which in turn was used to help equip the players with proper weapons and armor. Harry never kept more than five percent of the profit and only when he needed to stock up on supplies or save up to purchase new or replacement equipment).

Kirito, on the other hand, had practically disappeared around the time the guild he'd joined had been killed in a dungeon trap; at the time, the teen had suffered from a guilty conscience because he'd been the only survivor. It wasn't until after their second Christmas in the game that the teen once more began to turn up regularly; though still nowhere near as often as he had before the death of his guild. After he turned back up, the teen had taken to teaching Harry a fourth skill; that of Blade Throwing since Harry still refused to use any sword that was longer than fifteen inches in length (the hilt not included).

By that time, Harry had also added three more friends to his list; Klein, Asuna, and Lisbeth.

Klein was the same man that Harry had seen Kirito with on the day of the game's launch. Harry had run into the man and his guild shortly after defeating the Shady Wyvern (his third lesser dragon boss) and it was Klein that had dubbed him Dragon Slayer James the Reckless – his guild had witnessed the tail end of that fight. The loud and friendly man had then tried to take him back to the church in Hajimari no Machi on the first floor (where the younger players under the age of fourteen were being watched over).

Harry had instead dragged the man to Agil so that his self-adopted father could explain to the man that Harry was not a lost stray. Klein eventually became something of a cross between a fun uncle and an older brother to Harry as he tended to make certain that Harry had fun every once in a while and the man loved to exchange stories with him about various adventures and battles they'd experienced in the game.

Harry had met Asuna through Agil when the talented teen had come to Agil's shop looking for rare cooking ingredients in order to improve her cooking skills around the one year mark. Asuna had been the first client that Harry had taken with him on a Search since he'd reached level thirty and one of two girls that he'd met within the game that didn't automatically dismiss him as a helpless child just because he was young and short (the other being Lisbeth).

She had developed a tendency to mother him though; constantly delivering 'home cooked' meals, snacks, and treats to the shop for him at least four times a week. She also willingly passed along rumors and hints regarding the locations of rare or highly sought after items and other dragons in exchange for uncommon or rare cooking ingredients; that was her way of acknowledging his skills.

Asuna had been the one to introduce Harry to Lisbeth, a skilled blacksmith, after she learned that he was looking to get some of the dragon bone, fangs, and scales he'd collected made into armor, weapons, and tools. The pink haired teen had let out a squeal of excitement the moment she'd set eyes on Harry and pulled him into a hug (to his shock) before Asuna had even finished introducing the two of them. She had also repeatedly raved over how adorable he was, how gorgeous his jewel green eyes were, and how sweet it was that he was escorting Asuna.

When Lisbeth learned that he wanted her to make weapons, tools, and armor from dragon parts she'd squealed a second time before demanding to see the quality of the materials he had brought with him. She had immediately demanded to know who he'd purchased the materials from (because of their high quality) and when he'd told her that he had collected them himself, she'd been shocked. She'd then immediately ordered him to add her to his Friend List and allow her to go with him the next time he faced a dragon before agreeing to make the items he'd requested.

The tools, daggers, dirks, armor, and shield she made with his materials were some of the best Harry had ever owned in the game and not only were they of high quality with excellent stats, they were beautiful in their simplicity. Lisbeth didn't mother Harry like Asuna did but she did treat him like he was her little brother whenever she tagged along on one of his dungeon hunting expeditions.

Lisbeth had been the one to tell him about the Frost Dragon that she and Kirito had faced back on the twenty-fourth of June in the year twenty-twenty-one and she'd tagged along with him when he'd gone to see the creature for himself on his eleventh birthday. She'd tried to talk him out of fighting the creature because of how strong it was but by that time Harry had already faced five other dragons and taken them out. Harry had simply smiled at her and told her that he knew what he was doing before he led her to a sheltered area where she wouldn't get caught up in the battle while mentally preparing for the fight.

He'd developed a special set of traps to deal with any dragons he faced using the diamond wire he'd discovered in a store on floor thirty-five to make intricate nets that would ground the flying monsters; making them easier to fight. His secret to slaying the powerful monsters, however, lay in his magic, which he'd discovered around October of the year twenty-twenty and he had spent several months mastering the various 'spells' he had discovered through trial and error. He could call down lightning; use the four basic elements to form attacks (fire, water, wind, and earth); command the light, the shadows, and electricity (not to be confused with his lightning attacks); create semi-transparent shields; enhance his dirk with any of the elements; and Teleport anywhere within the game without relying upon the Teleport Crystals like the other players.

He still wasn't aware that it was _his_ magic that he was using (as opposed to some special skill the game had gifted him) and he still had no idea that it was his magic that helped his soul to interact with the game but that was to be expected since his aunt and uncle had consistently and frequently told him that there was no such thing as magic. Despite that, Harry still believed that magic existed; though not in the same sense that most magicals believed that magic existed. To him, the game world he'd been trapped inside of was magic; the magic wonder of incredible technological advances that he'd never imagined existed until he'd stolen Dudley's computer and gaming equipment out of the trash.

The battle had lasted two hours (his shortest dragon fight yet) and he'd earned his strongest dragon scales yet (one of which would be made into a shield), a pair of fangs, several claws, and something called the Dragon's Heart. The Heart would go into his special collection of strange treasures along with the two Dragon's Eyes he'd collected (one each from the Mossy Wyvern and the Sandy Wyvern), the Dragon's Tail (from the Shady Wyvern), the Dragon's Tongue (from the Flame Dragon), and the Dragon's Wings (from the Spark Dragon).

Two months after facing the Frost Dragon, he'd pick up Dragon's Skin from the Water Dragon (the seventh and final dragon he'd face in the game), though he still had no clue what the items were intended to do and liked to believe that they were the source of his magic (since he'd only discovered his skills _after_ he'd faced his third wyvern – not counting the lighting that had been called down during that first battle).

The eleven year old was brought back to the present by the enthusiastic greeting Klein gave him when the twenty-six year old saw him tagging along behind Agil. Harry wriggled and laughed as the somewhat immature man tickled him and gave him a noogie before tossing him over his shoulder like a sack of grain as he greeted Agil next. Pushing up so he was no longer dangling upside down, Harry smiled and waved at the other five members of the Fuurinkazan (Klein's guild) standing behind the man; all five of whom he knew through Klein, though he'd never gotten very close to any of them and they weren't on his Friend List.

Eventually, Harry was set back down on his feet as the two adults began talking about the plans for facing the boss monster up on the seventy-fifth floor; Agil partying up with Klein and his guild for the attack. Harry normally partied up with Agil whenever they entered a dungeon together but the man had been selected to lead a number of the smaller guilds during the battle. Harry refused to form a party with anyone outside of his five friends because they were the only ones that knew about his status as an Indefinable Immortal Object; something all party members that were of a higher level than him would be able to see the moment he joined a party (or guild).

That was his main reason for not taking clients into the dungeons like he had prior to his metamorphosis (aside from Asuna or Lisbeth but they were more than just simple clients, they were his friends).

This would be Harry's third time participating in a floor boss fight; the two previous ones had taken place on the forty-first and fifty-sixth floors. Both of the previous fights had been difficult and he'd mostly stayed out of the way and used his traps when he could to distract the boss monster while the others attacked it. Most of the adults that had been present for those fights had complained about him tagging along prior to the start of the battle (more than a few of them had grown angry with Agil because the merchant warrior had brought Harry with him). They had apologized after the battles to both Harry and Agil after seeing first hand what Harry was capable of doing with his traps.

Harry was only half listening to the discussion between the adults when Klein called out to someone and Harry glanced up to see the man waving towards Kirito and Asuna who'd just arrived hand in hand. While Agil and Klein exchanged pleasantries and joked around with the two teens, Harry couldn't help but notice the new matching rings that the two were wearing. He smiled at the evidence that his two friends had stopped dancing around their feelings for each other and opened his mouth to congratulate (tease) them at the same time as the two of them finally noticed him present.

"_James!? Why in the world are you here?_" Kirito demanded with a frown (the teen had been worried about the pending fight ever since Heathcliff – the leader of the KoB – had briefed him and Asuna the evening before).

"_To help, of course,_" Harry stated with a frown of his own as he glanced up to see the worry in both Kirito's and Asuna's eyes. "_I've helped in two other major boss fights and did all right._"

"_James…_" Asuna murmured worriedly.

"_I'll be fine and I brought my Dragon Wire,_" Harry assured the young woman; the eleven year old referring to the diamond wire that he always used to help him defeat the dragons he faced.

Before either teen could form another protest, Heathcliff appeared with a small contingent of KoB members and opened the corridor leading to the boss room up on the seventy-fifth floor. In order to prevent anyone from stopping him from going, Harry latched onto the back of Agil's shirt and stuck to the man he secretly viewed as a father like glue. Klein and the Fuurinkazan moved in behind the pair in order to watch his back; the small guild had been involved in both of the other floor boss fights that Harry had participated in and all of the members were well aware of his capabilities and the benefits gained from allowing him to help despite his age.

The entryway leading into the boss's chamber was dark and creepy and Harry shivered in the oppressive atmosphere that clung to the room. Behind him, he heard Kirito mutter under his breath about having a bad feeling and Harry wished the teen would give a show of his usual bravado because the knowledge that the stronger teen was frightened only made Harry feel even more nervous. Hearing Asuna reassure the boy actually eased some of the tension Harry felt and the eleven year old snickered silently to himself as he made a mental note to tease the older boy about being reassured by a girl once the fight was over. He owed Kirito anyway for all of the times he'd teased Harry about how he used to snuggle with Agil during the first six months in the game (something that the eleven year old still adamantly denied he'd done).

All thoughts of teasing fled as the doors to the chamber were opened by Heathcliff and the group gave out a wordless battle cry as everyone rushed forward into the room as one. They made it to the center of the platform and slid to a stop as they spread out in a loose circle in order to search for the boss. The group's earlier fear returned when the doors slammed shut behind them and vanished even though the boss still hadn't made an appearance.

"_Above us!_" Asuna cried out suddenly and more than one of the adults panicked as they all glanced up to find a creature called the Skull Reaper clinging to the ceiling upside down.

Harry stared in horror at the humongous monster that looked like it was part alien, part centipede, part Killer Mantis, part spider, and all ugly. It was all bones and blades, had hundreds of dangerously sharp limbs (including two scythes like the Killer Mantis – only bigger), and four glowing red eyes set in a deformed skull. Before Harry had even finished taking in the creature's appearance, the thing had dropped down into their midst to kill two adults with a single swipe of a scythe while everyone else promptly scattered in fear.

As he watched the two men shatter, Harry feared for the lives of his four friends that had come with him to battle the monstrosity. He didn't have to worry about himself, he'd long since learned that there was nothing in this game that could kill him; even if the monsters could draw his blood and cause him pain when they attacked.

Heathcliff moved to block the deadly scythes with Asuna and Kirito while the dark haired teen ordered everyone else to attack the Skull Reaper from the sides. Harry stood frozen on the edge of the platform, feeling completely useless against a creature that was four or five times larger than the biggest dragon he'd faced, right up until he saw Agil take a hit when the man courageously rushed forward to save some of the others. Letting out a snarl of rage over how close he'd just come to loosing the closest thing to a father he'd ever known, Harry finally rushed forward to join the fight as he pulled his shield off his back and dug out his Dragon Wire.

As he ran, Harry wove the wire into a net snare that he used to entangle several of the creature's flailing limbs before he slid under the belly of the beast and ended up just a few feet away from Klein and two other members of Fuurinkazan. He pulled the wire tight as he used his shield to defend against an attack from one if the creature's legs before he made another net snare with the same wire and yelled at Klein to throw him over the top of the beast even as he used the new net snare to tangle up another dozen limbs.

Seconds later, he soared through the air over the back of the beast before he landed roughly on the other side and grunted in pain as both knees had been bruised when he'd fallen onto his knees from the poor landing while he struggled to keep hold of the wire in his hand. It took him a few minutes to recover before he was up and moving again so he could tie off the wire so that the limbs he'd entangled were secured; giving the group a two foot section of the creature that they could attack freely with less of a chance of getting hit by the beast.

He was then forced to shield himself from another attack as the Reaper lunged forward to attack those in front while the rest of its body shifted back and forth. Dancing back out of the way, Harry pulled out another length of wire and began preparing another net trap as his eyes stayed on the Reaper and the other players' efforts to bring the monster down. He caught sight of Agil again and he felt a rush of relief at knowing that the man was still alive and fighting.

He felt some distress when he could no longer see Klein but he tried not to worry about the boisterous guild leader as he knew the man was a good player. A glance towards the front of the beast revealed Kirito and Asuna both still fighting side by side along with Heathcliff in their efforts to keep the monster's attention focused entirely on the three of them so the others could freely attack the boss. Another few minutes passed as Harry caught his breath and tested his knees to determine whether or not he needed to take a potion before he rejoined the fight.

When he determined that his knees weren't seriously injured aside from being bruised and a bit stiff, Harry darted back into the fray to tie up another section of legs. This time he aimed for a section closer to the front of the beast in order to potentially hinder its ability to maneuver but the damn thing wouldn't sit still. Worse yet, those people that were part of the KoB (bar Asuna and Kirito) kept getting in his way or pushing him back because they thought him useless.

It would take him several hours before he managed to land another trap on the Reaper because of their interference and he was more than a little irritated about it because he'd only managed to tangle up four or five legs on one side and it did nothing to slow the beast. Panting, Harry wiped the sweat from his face as he hung his shield on his back and moved away to prep another section of wire; this time preparing a lasso trap. He was on the move again two minutes later as he sought to loop the end of his lasso around one of the rib sections of the monster's torso.

Another hour passed before he managed to snag a rib and the moment the loop settled snugly against the bone protrusion he was darting back towards the tail. Halfway between the front of the Reaper and the first section of legs he'd tied up, Harry looped the length of wire around a single leg that had been striking out at another player and pulled it taut (a move that also saved a fellow player from a fatal wound); hoping to cut its mobility in half if he tied it tight enough.

The wire slipped through Harry's glove clad fingers as the powerful boss skittered sideways and he would have lost his grip completely if not for a familiar pair of arms wrapping around him and clamping down on the wire just inches above his. Harry felt a surge of warmth as he looked up and flashed a tight smile at Agil that the man returned. The two of them then hauled on the wire to draw the captured leg towards the front of the monster; a task that took a good forty minutes and the help of another three men that had partied up with Agil.

The instant the Reaper's body began curving due to their efforts, Agil helped Harry to tie off the trap before he clapped Harry on the back of the shoulder as he and the other adults returned to the fight.

Harry then used sprint to slip beneath the Reaper to the other side where he hoped to repeat the same attack. He had only managed to turn halfway around to face the monster once more when he got stabbed through the back of his right shoulder (one of the few areas his dragon scale armor didn't cover) by the Reaper's stinger-like tail and he screamed as he was yanked off his feet and thrown through the air. He heard Agil cry out his name but Harry had no time to reassure his friend as he slammed down hard on the platform before he rolled right off the edge. He barely managed to grab hold of the edge with his left hand as his shield dropped off his back and tumbled to the dungeon floor far below.

Up on the platform, the others battled on without Harry; most of the adults assumed that Harry had been killed since a number of them had seen him take a direct hit and they could no longer see him on the platform. About thirty minutes later, the Skull Reaper shattered in death and the word congratulations flashed into being on top of a huge blue rectangle in a burst of white light that Harry could just barely see from where he dangled precariously by one hand. The sound of people collapsing in exhaustion and a few cries of relief rang through the room for a moment before silence descended upon the platform as someone asked how many people had been lost.

Harry felt his heart rising up in the back of his throat as another player answered; the eleven year old hoping and praying that all of his friends had survived. He also hoped that one of them would come give him a hand sometime soon since he didn't know how much longer he could hold on to the edge with just one hand. After another couple of minutes had passed, he began to suspect that they had not seen him slide over the edge during the heat of the battle.

He was just about to call out to them in order to get someone to give him a hand up (his right arm currently useless because of his injury) when he heard a commotion up on the platform as Kirito attacked Heathcliff. Harry nearly lost his grip on the platform's edge in shock when it was revealed that Heathcliff was an Immortal Object, like Harry. Things up top were quickly getting out of hand as Harry listened with dawning horror as Kirito unmasked the leader of the KoB as Kayaba Akihiko; the man that had trapped them inside of a game for two years.

The other adults began muttering as Heathcliff confirmed Kirito's accusations before he revealed that he was to be the final boss monster they faced upon reaching the one hundredth floor. Harry felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as he heard the sound of several people falling to the ground and more than one confused and frightened cry ring out. He knew something was happening up top but he couldn't see what was going on and it was making him angry.

His anger turned to horror an instant later when he heard Kirito ask Kayaba if he was going to kill everyone in order to prevent those players present from spreading the word about Heathcliff being Kayaba. Their captor (for truly, that was what he was to them) denied the accusation and instead told them that he would be waiting for them at the top of the castle. Relief flooded through the eleven year old right up until Kayaba offered Kirito the chance to end the game right then by dueling Kayaba a second time; as a reward for figuring out who he was.

Harry wondered when his friend had first faced the man for a moment before he felt his earlier terror return tenfold as he heard Kirito accept. Needing to protect his friend, Harry struggled to pull himself back up onto the platform but found himself unable to do so because of his injured arm. Tears began pouring from his eyes as he heard Kirito addressing Agil, Klein, and Asuna with what sounded like his final words before he asked Kayaba to make certain that Asuna didn't kill herself if he died during the duel.

The fight started not long after Kayaba agreed to Kirito's request.

With each clash of Kirito's swords against Kayaba's shields, Harry felt his anger, frustration, and fear growing. Forcing himself to push through the pain he felt, Harry lifted his right arm and dragged himself up onto the platform inch by inch with sheer determination and more than a little desperation. He'd just pulled his head up above the platform in time to witness Asuna take a fatal blow as she used her body to shield Kirito from a fatal attack. Harry stopped breathing and felt his heart break as he watched the girl who had mothered him for the past year shatter in death as she was cradled in Kirito's arms.

He then witnessed Kirito break due to Asuna's death before Kayaba stabbed him through the chest. Harry let out a whispered protest and pulled his chest up onto the platform as he struggled to reach Kirito before he too vanished in a shower of crystal shards. He thought maybe Kirito would live when he saw the teen thrust Asuna's sword into Kayaba's chest but just two seconds later, both teen and man exploded in death together. Harry froze in disbelief as he stared at the scattering shards that had once been Kirito.

"_No,_" Harry whispered again in protest as he began shaking his head even as the system announced that the game had been cleared. He then closed his eyes, pressed his face to the floor, and screamed out in denial, "_**NO**__! Kirito! Asuna! COME BACK!_"

"_James!_"

Harry opened his eyes to see Agil hurrying across the platform to where he was still half hanging. The eleven year old could see that the older man was crying as well and that sent another lance of pain through his heart because Agil never cried. Harry didn't want to believe that two of his only friends were dead but if Agil was grieving, then he knew that there was nothing that could be done to bring the two teens back.

It was at that moment that the unthinkable happened.

Agil had just knelt down in front of Harry and reached out to help him the rest of the way up onto the platform when the room lit up with dozens of system warnings as the players inside the room began vanishing in a wave of white light that swept out from the center of the platform. Harry fumbled for Agil's hand as he saw several other players vanish only to gasp in horror as Agil vanished right in front of his eyes. It was too much for the eleven year old wizard and he threw his head back and let out an anguished scream of sheer rage and grief over the unexpected loss of the man that had been his first ever friend before he'd become the father of his heart.

The entire room began shaking apart that that point and Harry didn't even bother trying to save himself as he slid back off the platform. He crashed down hard on top of his shield before the floor of the dungeon room shattered beneath him but Harry didn't even register the physical pain he felt because his heart was still shattering into millions of pieces. As the world around him broke apart, Harry screamed a second time and this time his magic exploded outwards to sweep through the world that had been his home for two years.

His unspoken desire to save both his home and his friends causing his magic to assimilate each and every piece of unraveling code it encountered as it swept through Aincrad at the speed of light (his friends already saved, though he didn't know it).

Harry then began to experience the agony of having his soul forcefully removed from the virtual world in which it had been confined for the past two years as his magic sought to save him once more; dragging his soul back to his frozen body with him kicking and screaming the entire way.

The last Harry saw of the world of Ken no Sekai were the words Game Over hanging in the sky above the shattered remains of Aincrad before he knew no more.

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**Translations:** Japanese to English

Gaki – brat  
Hajimari no Machi – Starting City or Town of Beginnings  
Ken no Sekai – Sword Art Online

**Game Terminology:**

Aincrad – **A**n **Inc**arnating **Rad**ius (the name of the Castle that is SAO)  
Dungeon – an area within the game where players can attack or be attacked by monsters (or other players)  
Experience Points – the points earned for each quest completed and each monster killed  
Guild – group of players that work together for a common goal  
HP – **H**it **P**oints: the number of Life Force/Life Points/Health Points a person has  
KoB – **K**nights **o**f the **B**lood (the name of another in-game guild)  
NPC – **N**on-**P**layer **C**haracter  
Party – a group of two or more individuals that work together for a period of time or a set task  
SAO – **S**word **A**rt **O**nline

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Harry's Game Data/Stats (End of Game):

**Classification:** Indefinable Immortal Object  
**Level:** 82  
**HP:** - System Error: HP Incalculable  
**Col:** 1,503,345

**Main Equipment:**

Dragon Fang Dirk – 15 inch white Blade, Leather Wrapped Steel Hilt  
Dragon Scale Shield – Lightweight Shield: 2 foot tall, 1 foot wide, made from Frost Dragon Scale  
Dragon Bone Shovel – Virtually indestructible shovel used for digging traps  
Diamond/Dragon Wire – Razor sharp wire that is indestructible and can cut through almost anything  
Light Armor – Lightweight Armor: Chest/Back Plate, Arm Guards, Shin Guards, Open-faced Helm (seldom worn), made from a combination of Mossy & Sandy Wyvern Scales  
Diamond Cloth Gloves – Sturdy, indestructible gloves that protect his hands from the Diamond Wire  
Diamond Cloth Boots – Sturdy, indestructible boots that make little to no noise and protect his feet from the Diamond Wire as well as from piercing attacks

**Skill Slots:** 16 (four extra slots carried over from Beta Test)

**Equipped Skills:** (Basic 1-250 pts, Advanced 251-500 pts, Proficient 501-750 pts, Expert 751-999 pts, & Master 1000 pts)

Acrobatics – 1000  
Blade Throwing – 0749  
Detection – 1000  
Extended Weight Limit – 0912  
Fishing – 1000  
Hiding – 1000  
Light Shield Equip – 0836  
Light Metal Equip – 0821  
Listening – 1000  
Night Vision – 1000  
One Handed Sword – 0906  
Parry – 0875  
Searching – 1000  
Sprint – 1000  
Tracking – 1000  
Trapping – 1000

**Unarmed Skills:**

Escape – 1000  
Camping – 1000  
Navigation – 0984  
Scouting – 1000  
Research – 0865  
Magic – - System Error: Mastery Incalculable

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**AN:** _And that marks the end of the SAO timeline… I know there will be some readers that are disappointed that I didn't go into more detail or give more insight into everything that occurred during the two years that Harry was trapped inside with the others but I didn't want to get too bogged down in the SAO arc because that wasn't the focus of this story. There will be flashbacks to specific events that took place in SAO throughout the story; as Harry will not just suddenly forget everything he experienced there.  
_

_The next chapter will take a small step back in time as we take a look at what has been happening in the real world while Harry and the rest of the SAO players were trapped. As always, thank you so much for reading and reviewing! Jenn  
_


	9. Perception

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out this very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am making no money whatsoever from the writing of this FanFiction._

**Warnings:** _Mild to moderate violence, character death, foul language, alternate universe (i.e. kiss HP canon goodbye), angst, drama, starts pre-Hogwarts Era, and who knows what else. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

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Chapter Nine: Perception

_Wednesday, July 28, 2021 8:00 AM_

Tucked deep within the mountains of Scotland, in a hidden valley near a rather unique and antiquated village that does not exist on any 'normal' map, sits an old castle. The castle had been converted into a school for young magicals over a thousand years earlier and christened Hogwarts after the flowers one of the school's four founders cherished. The village below the castle was called Hogsmeade and was the only all wizarding village that remained within the United Kingdom.

Seated behind an enormous desk, high in one of the many towers of Hogwarts, was an old wizard with a crooked nose, long white hair, and a longer white beard. The man wore bright red robes covered with rampant gold lions and gold trim, high heeled red leather boots, a red and gold pointed wizard's hat, and a pair of half-moon glasses behind which sat a pair of vibrant blue eyes that twinkled incessantly. This wizard was Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore; current Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards, Order of Merlin (First Class), and Grand Sorcerer.

Albus Dumbledore was, above all else, a very influential man who did his best to guide the wizarding world despite being spread thin between the three highly demanding jobs he'd been roped into taking through the years (only one of which he'd actually wanted). Luckily, two of the three positions were ones that could be dealt with from a distance for the most part, and on a quarterly basis, allowing the man to focus most of his energy into running the school that had become his home many decades earlier.

Over the past ten years, Albus had often allowed his thoughts to turn to the young child that he felt he'd abandoned to a hard life in an effort to save him from a harder life and prepare him for his destiny. Today, just three days before said child's eleventh birthday, was one such time as the young boy in question would soon make his long awaited return to the wizarding world in order to start his magical education. Like each of the previous times he'd dwelled on the child, Albus wondered if his decision to leave little Harry Potter on the doorstep of his only surviving family so that the muggle family might raise the child until he was ready to shoulder his responsibilities had been the right choice.

Today, Albus would finally receive an answer to that question and it would not be the answer he hoped to receive.

Several floors below the venerable old wizard in a sparsely decorated office, Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress of Hogwarts, Head of House Gryffindor, Professor of Transfiguration, Cat Animagus, and avid Quidditch fan was busy filling out, addressing, and sending off letters of invitation to this year's crop of new students in addition to the booklists for all returning students. Minerva had also questioned Albus's decision all those years ago. She'd spent the past ten years hounding Albus for confirmation that young Harry was growing up healthy and happy despite her belief that the family he'd been left with the night his parents had been murdered were the 'worst sort of muggles imaginable'.

Minerva would have preferred to raise the child herself; the stern witch had been very fond of both little Harry's mother and father. Despite Albus's reassurances that Harry was growing up 'just fine', Minerva feared that things had not been easy for the son of two of her favorite lions. She knew that Lily and her sister had had a falling out after Lily had been accepted into Hogwarts; she'd spent many a night comforting the young witch over her sister's spiteful words and hurtful actions during Lily's seven years at the school.

Minerva feared that the bad blood between their sisters would see poor Harry bearing the brunt of Petunia's hate. Part of her also feared that Harry would end up with an attitude far worse than his father's early selfish and immature attitude due to the way his relatives catered to their son's whims. She couldn't decide which would be worse; a spoil rotten brat that believed the world should cater to his every whim or an introverted and downtrodden waif that flinched at his own shadow.

When the owl assigned to deliver young Harry Potter's invitation for the coming school year refused to deliver the letter, the Deputy Headmistress had immediately brought the matter to Albus with a demand for him to get to the bottom of things. Additional attempts were made to deliver the letter but none of the school's postal owls would take the letter. Albus had then given the task to his beloved phoenix only for the bird to trill out a mournful song as he turned the school invitation to ash before burying his head beneath his wing and weeping (a terrible thing indeed for phoenixes rarely ever wasted tears on something as trivial as emotions).

Certain that there must be some sort of mistake, Albus had Minerva draw up a new invitation and sent Rubeus Hagrid (Hogwarts' Gamekeeper, Keeper of the Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts, and half giant) to personally deliver the standard invitation to the child; the large man was a trusted staff member that was intimidating enough to get answers out of the Dursleys and gentle enough not to frighten Harry in the process. Hagrid also knew exactly where the Dursleys lived; information that very few people within the magical world had access to. Hagrid had left just twenty minutes after Fawkes had torched the first letter and was expected to be gone for the rest of the day; the gentle giant also entrusted to take young Harry to Diagon Alley in order to purchase his school supplies (Hagrid was the ideal bodyguard, after all, despite not being a fully qualified wizard).

It was therefore something of a shock for Albus when the groundskeeper burst into the office barely an hour after he'd left in a fine fury; the door breaking under the force Hagrid had applied to open it.

"He's gone, Professor! The ruddy muggles said they never found a child on their porch," Hagrid wailed as he marched up to the desk and slammed his fists down on it, cracking the magnificent piece of furniture in his fury. "They claimed they didn't even know who I was talkin' about!"

"Hagrid, calm yourself, I'm certain the Dursleys were just trying to protect their nephew and that it was all just a big misunderstanding. The devices I have tied to the wards indicate that the wards are as strong as ever and Arabella has sent me reports through the years of seeing the boy on a number of occasions. I will send Severus along to clear things up in your place."

Hagrid was mollified and Albus ushered the much calmer man out of his office before contacting Severus Snape, the resident Head of House Slytherin, Professor of Potions, former Death Eater and sourpuss extraordinaire (well known and well feared by all students not in Slytherin and even a few that were). The younger wizard had balked at being forced to fetch 'that blasted Potter brat' from his relatives but eventually capitulated when Albus reminded him that boy in question had an important part to play in the future. Once the irritated Potions Master had left to attend to the matter, Albus took the time to repair the door and his desk before returning to his duties; Harry Potter once more pushed to the back of his mind now that the child would be taken care of by one of his trusted underlings.

Albus was therefore not prepared for Severus to return two hours later with the news that Harry Potter had vanished and as far as the Dursley family _and _Arabella Figg were concerned; the child had never existed in the first place. Severus confirmed that he'd scanned their memories and found evidence that the Dursleys' and Figg's memories had been tampered with (because of the holes) but that he couldn't pinpoint when it had happened, who had done it, or why it had been done in the first place. He also said that there had been no sign of the child anywhere within the house but that there was an unusually high concentration of magic behind the wall beneath the staircase that he'd been unable to dispel.

The venerable headmaster could no longer delegate the matter of Harry Potter to his subordinates; things had just gone from troublesome to worrisome quite unexpectedly.

Albus gathered together a group of witches and wizards to help him get to the bottom of the mysterious disappearance of Harry Potter. Included in that group was Poppy Pomfrey (the school's Mediwitch), Minerva, Severus, Alastor 'Mad-Eye' Moody (an old friend of Dumbledore's and a veteran auror with the Ministry of Magic), Filius Flitwick (the Head of House Ravenclaw, Professor of Charms, former Dueling Champion, and a competent Master Warder), and Hagrid. The group of seven magicals portkeyed into Arabella Figg's backyard and immediately split up in order to investigate the disappearance of young Mr. Potter.

Madam Pomfrey went to check on Arabella and see if she could break the memory charms the old squib had been placed under. Minerva headed for the local primary school in order to find out when Harry had last been seen in class (where she'd learn that the blood wards had prevented any of the teachers or staff from taking notice of the child and therefore had no records of him at all). Hagrid would remain with Arabella and Pomfrey in order to keep watch on the two women and so he was on hand in case they needed him. And Severus would lead the rest of them over to the Dursley's residence so that they might track down any clues as to when Harry had vanished and if he had left willingly or if he'd been taken by force.

The search ended the moment Alastor pushed his way into the house passed an indignant Petunia Dursley; the grizzled old auror had immediately spotted the missing child sealed behind the wall under the staircase when he swept the house using the magical eye that had earned him the nickname 'Mad-Eye'. Albus, Filius, and Alastor immediately set to dismantling the wards that had sealed the child behind the wall while Severus was sent to collect Minerva and Madam Pomfrey now that the missing child had been found.

It took them over twelve hours to drop the blood wards that had hidden the door to the cupboard and another six hours to break through the unexpectedly potent accidental magic that had sealed the door from the inside. Once they had the door open, the wizards were quite confused by what they were seeing; the eleven year old had been hooked up to some weird helmet thing that was connected to an unfamiliar machine. The most troubling thing, aside from the evidence that the cupboard looked well lived in, was the fact that everything in the small room was covered with at least two years worth of dust; including a much too small and frail looking Harry Potter.

The worst of the news came when Madam Pomfrey proclaimed that Harry's body had been forced into magical stasis a year and a half earlier (resulting in his already stunted growth being stunted further), his soul was not inside of his body, and Harry's magic (what little of it remained with his body) in combination with the last remnants of the blood wards was actively linking the child to the strange machine. In fact, the machine was so saturated in Harry's magic that it was no longer being powered by electricity (his magic acting as a source of energy for the device) and disconnecting him from the machine could potentially damage the child's magical core due to how the magic circulated between the machine and Harry's body. That was on top of the obvious neglect and malnutrition that the child had been suffering from during the weeks leading up to the child's body entering stasis.

Albus had aged decades by the end of the report and the other adult magicals present looked sickened (even Severus found it difficult to be disdainful of a child that looked half dead and obviously neglected). Minerva was hopping mad beneath her distress though and Albus knew he'd be forced to face her ire (and possibly her wand) once Harry had been transferred to a safe and secure location (preferably within Hogwarts). He knew he would deserve whatever the younger witch sent his way as he now had undeniable proof that he'd made a serious mistake in trusting the Dursleys to raise the boy hero that had toppled the dark wizard Voldemort at the height of his reign of terror.

It would take another two days to prepare a private room for Harry near Madam Pomfrey's office and the school's Infirmary and to secure transportation for the child, the few belongings he owned, and the muggle equipment that was some how sustaining his life in conjunction with the child's magic. Something that had involved more than a few arguments from the older two Dursleys once they discover that Harry (a child that they had absolutely no knowledge of) had been in possession of Dudley's long lost gaming console.

Albus had left the details of housing and transporting the child to the others as he spent his time gaining custody of Mr. Potter and keeping word of the child's current condition from leaking to the wrong people. The old wizard wished he could prosecute the Dursleys for their obvious neglect of their nephew but because they had no memory of Harry (aside from those involving the removal of the child) he couldn't even prove that they were responsible for the child's current condition; even if there was no doubt in his mind that they were.

If Harry ever woke up, then he could get the proof he needed from the child; providing that Harry had retained all of his memories. They couldn't check until the child woke up though, because using Legilimency on a sleeping or unconscious child could potentially damage the child's mind. There was also the fact that the child's mind was currently preserved by a powerful stasis ward which meant that they wouldn't have been able to pull up any memories even if it had been safe to read the mind of a sleeping child.

Once Harry's body (frozen empty shell that it was) had been settled into a private room near the Hospital Wing, Madam Pomfrey began preparing for the day when the child would hopefully wake up. This mainly involved installing a potions cabinet in the child's room and stocking the cabinet with multiple doses of nutritional potions, pain potions, general healing draughts, calming potions, sleeping potions, and a number of other potions designed to counteract the negative effects of long-term stasis spells, long-term malnutrition and neglect, and stabilize a person's magical core due to disruption of the soul. With the help of Minerva, the healer also dug through the castle's lost and found for a couple of outfits that would fit the child after discovering that Harry had owned nothing but ill-fitting hand me downs that had belonged to his older, fatter cousin.

Once those preparations had been completed, there was nothing else to be done for the child until he woke aside from monitoring his body around the clock for any signs that Harry's soul had returned to his body and the stasis preserving his body had been lifted.

By the end of August, most of those that were aware of Harry's current condition had almost lost all hope that the child would ever wake (many of them believing that he was far too gone after his soul had been missing from his body for nearly two years). Albus's health had taken a steep nosedive in the aftermath and he'd willingly stepped down from his position as Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot; passing the title to his former Assistant Chief Warlock, Tiberius Ogden. He'd considered resigning as Supreme Mugwump as well but hesitated to disconnect himself from the international scene while he knew Voldemort was still out there some where biding his time until he was strong enough to rise again.

When September first rolled around and the students returned to the castle, rumors about the missing Harry Potter (who the wizarding world had known should have started Hogwarts this year) were flying fast and thick both inside and outside of the school. A statement was released to the press that same day declaring that Harry had been moved into seclusion for health reasons earlier in the summer and that more information would be released at a later date. Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge had confronted Albus about the whereabouts of the missing Boy-Who-Lived (Harry's unofficial but widely accepted title in the wizarding world) but the Headmaster rebuffed the Minister as was his right as the child's newly confirmed legal guardian.

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months and still Harry showed no signs of waking.

It wasn't until just over an hour before noon on November seventh of the year twenty-twenty-one when Madam Pomfrey was alerted to a change in Mr. Potter's condition. The school healer had dropped what she was doing at the time and immediately hurried to Harry's room where she found the magical stasis preserving Harry's body rapidly breaking down and the child going into convulsions as his body and magic struggled to cope with reanimating the billions of cells that made up his body. At the same time, the monitoring charms that had been placed on the boy indicated that his soul was attempting to return to his body.

The process would take close to forty-eight hours to complete; eight times longer than it had taken for his soul to be moved out and his body preserved (not that the Mediwitch knew that).

Madam Pomfrey had needed to restart Harry's heart a total of eighteen times during the process, treat the numerous injuries that had mysteriously appeared during the first six hours, and administer over fifty potions. The unexplained injuries had healed into scars by the time the ordeal was over bar the rather nasty hole that went all the way through his right shoulder just below the collarbone; a wound that proved rather difficult to heal (as if it had been made with dark magic). The healer tried reducing or completely erasing the new scars but they were resistant to all healing magic, which was rather tragic because they were very painful looking and some of them would be difficult to cover up.

There was what looked like a bite mark from a large animal of some kind on the back of his left ankle. Then there were two long lines that started several inches above right knee on either side of his right thigh and twisted around his leg twice before ending at his right ankle. Next there were several faint crisscrossed gashes and circles on the back of his neck, across the top of his shoulders and the upper half of his back, and down both arms. There was also the thick line that ran from between his middle and ring fingers on the back of his left hand down below the thumb before wrapping around the underside of the wrist. And then there was what the healer considered the worst of the scars; the two claw marks down the left side of his face starting somewhere beneath the helmet he wore, crossing down over the left eye (just barely missing the eye itself) and ending nearly at his chin.

After Harry had been stabilized once more, the magic running the muggle machine connected to the child withdrew back into the child's core and the machine immediately ceased to function. Madam Pomfrey was quick to remove the helmet from the child's head to find his once inky black hair now had two crisp snow-white patches where the scars on his face ran beneath his hairline. The contrast was rather startling and drew even more attention to the two scars on his face. The lightning bolt scar that had become famous in the wizarding world, in contrast, was nothing more than a thin faded line sitting above Harry's right eyebrow that was easy to miss if you didn't know it was there.

It was at that point that Madam Pomfrey sent an update on the child's condition to those that were aware of his presence in the castle. The healer had been unreachable during the forty-eight hours it had taken for the stasis spell to break down completely and for his soul to settle back to where it belonged on top of the additional sixteen hours it had taken to completely stabilize the child. Minerva would be the first to arrive on the scene and the stern witch would keep watch over the recovering wizard for a few hours while Poppy got some much needed rest.

Like Madam Pomfrey, Minerva had been appalled by the scars that had appeared on the much too young child lying on the bed and Albus would receive a second blistering lecture (and more than a few painful hexes to tender and unmentionable places) from the Scottish witch the moment another took her place beside the child. Two hours after Minerva sat down to watch over the child, Harry slipped into a healing coma as his magic worked overtime to finish healing his body with the aide of the numerous potions flowing through his veins.

During that time, Harry's magic was also expanding his magical core to accommodate the magical growth he had undergone and to incorporate the fundamental changes his magic had undergone as it assimilated the programming code of the game during the past two years (the majority of the coding taken during the collapse of Aincrad). The magically implanted NERDLES at the base of his skull continued to feed information into Harry's sleeping brain as Harry's magic now used the small device as a bridge between his soul, his magical core, and his brain.

Five days would pass before Harry woke from his magic induced coma and Madam Pomfrey worked diligently during that time to heal and strengthen the damage that his magic and the potions had been unable to heal on its own (bar the magic resistant scars and the slowly healing wound in his shoulder). At the end of those five days, Harry looked far healthier than he had at any point since he'd been found back on his eleventh birthday, though he still looked painfully thin and frail. The fact that he didn't look a day older than eight (and even that was a bit of a stretch considering how short and scrawny he was) only made his appearance all that more tragic when one took in the numerous scars.

Not even Snape (who had once been determined to hate the child of his biggest rival) could dredge up enough hate to insult the child or complain about the attention he was receiving in light of what he must have suffered.

Sadly, Harry's awakening was not the happy occasion that all of those involved had imagined it would be as it was painfully obvious that there had been some mental and emotional scarring due to whatever ordeal the child had suffered through to tear his soul from its rightful home and force his magic to preserve his body. Expected as that scarring was, none of the adults watching over the young wizard were quite prepared for the child's insistence that he was trapped in some kind of game, his staunch refusal to believe roughly ninety percent of the information they gave him, or his casual dismissal of their very humanity.


	10. Awakening

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out this very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am making no money whatsoever from the writing of this FanFiction._

**Warnings:** _Mild to moderate violence, character death, foul language, alternate universe (i.e. kiss HP canon goodbye), angst, drama, starts pre-Hogwarts Era, and who knows what else. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter Ten: Awakening

_Sunday, November 14, 2021 3:43 PM_

Harry returned to consciousness in the blink of an eye.

One second he knew nothing and the next he was laying in darkness on a comfortable bed feeling as if he'd been worked over by a Boss Monster recently.

It only took a moment for his memory of the final moments of Aincrad to slam into his brain and when it did, Harry let out a rage filled scream of grief over the memory of all he'd just lost. When his scream died down into sobs, Harry reached up with both hands and covered his face (ignoring the searing pain that cut through his right shoulder with the movement) as he saw again Kirito's shocked disbelief when Asuna shattered in death, Kirito's face filled with grief, desperation, and rage (the teen so utterly broken due to Asuna's death) when he killed Kayaba before both man and teen shattered, and the obvious grief on Agil's face just before the man vanished from right in front of him.

Numbness settled over Harry as he ran his hands over his face and through his hair (still ignoring the pain of moving his right arm) before he sat up and gazed blankly at the unfamiliar stone walls and antique furniture of the room he found himself in. A glance upwards revealed his golden HP bar (currently sitting dangerously low, which would explain why he felt so tired) and green curser still floating above his head and he let out a resigned sigh as he opened his menu in the hopes that he could find out where he had ended up. Harry couldn't resist torturing himself with a brief check of his Friend List to see all five of his friends grayed out (the color had come to signify the death of the players whereas before it just indicated the players were offline) and the grief drowned him a second time as he stared at the evidence that his friends were gone.

"_Agil,_" Harry sobbed brokenly, the loss of the man he'd come to see as a father hurting the most because the man had always seemed so strong. It didn't help that he never even told the man how he truly saw him or how much he'd come to care for him in the two years they'd known each other. "_Damn you, Kayaba! Give me back my father! I need him. I need them all. They were all I had._"

The sound of the door opening followed by a soft gasp pulled Harry from his grief and he glanced up to find a middle aged woman dressed in an old fashioned maroon and white healer's smock and hat. Reaching up with one hand, Harry closed out his player menu and warily studied the unfamiliar woman before he glanced up to note that she was an NPC according to the green cursor surrounded by a simple green ring floating above her head. Her presence only confirmed what he'd been trying to deny right from the start; he'd been ripped from SAO and thrust into some other VRMMORPG environment instead of waking up in his body.

"_I wonder if this means that my relatives really did kill me off,_" Harry apathetically mused out loud as he watched the woman bustle forward once she got over her shock.

"Oh by the blessing of the Lady of the Lake, it is good to see you awake at last, Mr. Potter," the woman declared as she pulled out a stick and began waving it over Harry. "We'd begun to fear that you would never wake up."

"_Who are you and where am I?_" Harry asked in Japanese out of habit, his mind not yet registering the fact that she was speaking English or that she'd used his actual last name.

"I'm sorry, dear, what was that? I'm afraid I didn't understand a word of what it was you were asking me."

This time, Harry picked up on the fact that she was using English and his wariness increased since there had been very few players that had known that he spoke English. The fact that it was an NPC using English only heightened his unease because the system shouldn't have that kind of information. Harry frowned after a moment though as it occurred to him that he might have been shunted onto the nearest server when Aincrad self-destructed; which for him would mean an English server. Since he was, as far as he knew, the only British player that had been trapped inside of the game; or at least the only player located within the British Isles as the game had not been sold outside of Japan (his uncle's purchase the only exception as far as he knew).

"Mr. Potter…?"

Harry continued to ignore the NPC Healer as he reopened his menu and flipped through the options. When he didn't find any more information on what game he'd been thrust into, he switched back to his Player Stats in order to see what level he was currently at, only to frown when he saw there were now two pages to his Stats Page. The first page was new and it depicted his stats for the current game (most of which were currently blank) while the second page held a list of his SAO stats at the end of the game. Thinking of SAO only brought the grief back though and he closed out the menu as tears slipped down his face; no longer feeling curious enough to determine where he stood in this new game.

"Is there something wrong, Mr. Potter? Are you in any pain?"

"Just leave me alone," Harry rasped tiredly, his heart in far too much pain to deal with what he was certain was nothing but another piece of stupid code.

The woman pursed her lips at the rudeness before her gaze filled with pity and regret and Harry just stared at her apathetically while the tears continued to course down his face. Eventually, she took the hint and backed out of the room and Harry gave into the despair, loneliness, and grief as he curled up on the bed and bawled his eyes out. Hours later, after he'd finally cried himself dry; he just lay there staring at the stone wall without really seeing it as the memory of his world ending played over and over again in his mind. It wasn't that he really cared that Aincrad was gone at this point, home though it had been to him for two years.

No, it was the loss of his friends and his self-claimed father that tore at him.

He'd give anything to be back in Algade helping Agil with the new shop.

His solitude was intruded upon once more after a while by the same nurse and an ancient old man with a white beard that looked nearly long enough for him to trip over. Harry flicked his eyes up to find that the man was also an NPC in the new game before he returned his eyes to the wall and studiously ignored both man and woman; they were not important.

"It does this old heart good to see you awake at last, my boy," the old man stated as he sat down in the chair that was positioned beside the bed.

Harry flicked his gaze to the old man once more before he simply rolled over and ignored the NPC and the spike of pain that his new position sent through his injured shoulder. The man sighed and Harry hoped that that meant that he would leave. Unfortunately, it didn't as Harry soon learned when the man began speaking again.

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Albus Dumbledore and I owe you an apology, Mr. Potter… Harry, I did you a great disservice…"

Harry bolted out of the bed in pure panic over the use of that name; he had still not registered the fact that the nurse had used his real last name several times earlier. Hearing this old man casually use his first name though, a name he'd never entered into the system at any point or even given to his friends really freaked him out.

"Who are you and how did you get that name?" Harry demanded as his back connected with the cold stone wall as he reached for the dirk that no longer hung from his right hip. Harry didn't even bother waiting for an answer as he opened his menu once more and began rapidly shifting through the various pages in a desperate search for any clue as to how the server might have found that information to plug into whatever game it was that he'd been forced into.

As his fingers flew through the pages, he muttered under his breath in Japanese, "_This isn't happening, this can't be happening. How can the system hack that information? Did they steal that information from my old school? Could whoever created this new game have gone to my aunt and uncle's house to take control of my body? Is that why I didn't wake up in my body? How did they know I would appear on this server though? Was I shunted here purposefully? That still doesn't rule out the possibility that I am dead either._"

"_Mr. Potter, please calm down,_" Dumbledore urged in Japanese, making Harry's fingers freeze above his menu as he peered over the semi-transparent page to meet the man's blue eyes. "_You have nothing to be afraid of and you are most assuredly not dead. I had you brought here…_"

"_You had no right! Send me back! I have to find my father and the others, the game ended so they should have been released but with the system deleting itself, they might have gotten stuck and I can't just leave them to die. I won't._"

"_I am afraid that I am not following you, my boy. Your parents are dead; they have been gone for ten years now. This is not a game and I can not in good conscience send you back to the place you were before. As I had been saying earlier, I did you a great disservice in leaving you with your aunt's family but, in my defense, I had wrongly assumed that they would treat you like family because you were part of their family. I had you brought here so that you might heal and so that you can learn about your heritage._"

"_Oh, you're good, I'll give you that,_" Harry countered with a frown as he casually dismissed the man's words and returned to searching through the menu functions. "_You have just enough information to make the story sound believable but that was probably the way you were programmed. Makes me wonder who it was that went to so much effort just to try and convince me that this is where I belong. You aren't fooling me though and you'll never keep me here; I won't allow it. All I have to do is find the backdoor to this stupid game and then I'm out of here._"

"Mr. Potter, you are not trapped inside of any game. You are home now," Dumbledore insisted as he switched back to English as if to emphasize his point. "I understand that you have been through a trying ordeal and that it will take time for you to accept the changes that took place while you were gone, so I will give you some time to adjust before we sit down and discuss your future."

Harry watched the old man exit the room, not for a moment believing anything that the man had told him. Harry knew better; if he'd really returned to his body he would not still be in pain from his partially healed shoulder, he'd not still be covered in the scars he'd received in SAO (he could see the ones one his arms and wrist just as plain as day), there would be no menu available, and he would either be locked inside of his cupboard under the stairs or he'd have woken up in a hospital with the Nerve Gear still strapped in place on his head.

"Come on, Mr. Potter, let's get you back into bed," the nurse instructed as she entered Harry's line of sight; the eleven year old had completely forgotten about the woman in the wake of dealing with the weird old man.

Harry considered ignoring her but upon further reflection realized that he was still exhausted and he'd been shivering due to his see-sawing emotions and the chill air that seemed to plague all castles for some time without realizing it. Once under the covers again, Harry continued to flip through the menu; this time he checked his Inventory and noted that he still had everything he'd taken with him to that final battle.

He also found that he'd picked up four items from the battle of the Skull Reaper; one of the Reaper's Scythes, the Reaper's Stinger (Harry's dried blood still coating the tip where it had pierced Harry's right shoulder), an item called the Cloak of Mourning (it boosted one's offensive capabilities), and something that was called the Reaper's Crown (Harry had no clue what this one was). All four items had been shunted to him automatically when the game had ended because he'd been the last one left who'd faced the Skull Reaper in battle after the others had begun vanishing.

Sighing, Harry closed out the menu and curled up with his pillow as he cried himself to sleep still missing Agil and the others.

* * *

_Friday, November 19, 2021 8:15 AM_

Five days later, Harry sat on the same bed dressed in a fairly decent set of secondhand clothes that included a pair of black slacks, a white button down shirt over a white t-shirt, a gray woolen vest, a simple black tie, open fronted black robes, polished black dress shoes, and a sling for his mostly healed but still weak right shoulder and arm. He'd been given the clothes by the nurse earlier that morning. Today he was to be taken to acquire the supplies he would need to muddle through this new game in the hopes that the sooner he cleared the game, the sooner he could find a way back to Aincrad's server so he could find Agil and the others.

The eleven year old studiously ignored the possibility that the server had been permanently shut down already.

Dumbledore had returned the previous evening along with four new adults (whom were introduced as Professor Minerva McGonagall, Professor Severus Snape, Professor Pomona Sprout, and Professor Filius Flitwick) plus the nurse (whose name he finally learned was Madam Poppy Pomfrey) to explain where he was and why he was there. The more Harry learned, the more he became disturbed by this new game. Someone had gone through a considerable amount of trouble to create a game that was attempting to supplant reality in his mind.

Dumbledore, who was apparently his in-game guardian according to the NPC, knew just enough facts about Harry's real life to make his story appear real but it was twisted just enough to scream fake to Harry; the eleven year old not realizing that it was his facts that had been twisted by the lies the Dursleys had fed him for eight long years.

First of all, there was the fact that Dumbledore claimed to have known Harry's birth parents but the man insisted that they had been killed by some evil wizard with a dorky name instead of in a car crash. That _might_ have been believable if not for the fact that the man had gone on to insist that the evil wizard had tried to kill Harry as well but had failed. That instead of Harry being killed, something inside of Harry had weakened and defeated the big bad dark guy and sent him fleeing into the night to lick his wounds.

Now, Harry was proud of the abilities he'd cultivated and he knew that there had been few solo players within SAO that could claim to have defeated a dragon on their own let alone four of the fiercest in the game (the three wyverns no where near as powerful as the dragons) aside from himself but not even he was egotistical enough to claim credit for defeating a powerful and powerfully evil dark wizard at the tender age of one. Besides, his aunt and uncle had been most insistent that his parents had died in a car crash because they'd been out drinking and doing drugs. It also seemed far more plausible to have gotten his old lightning bolt scar in a car crash than because he'd been hit by an unblockable killing 'curse' that he somehow survived.

So that was a huge strike against the man's believability; babies don't defeat the bad guys in _any_ story. They _might_ be orphaned and grow up to beat the bad guys out of revenge but they had to be trained through a series of deadly trials to gain the strength first; even Harry knew that much about the heroes in any story (and he hadn't been allowed to read that many stories least he 'get ideas' about his own unnaturalness). Yet another strike against his supposed guardian was the fact that the man kept claiming that both of Harry's parents and Harry himself were magicals; all of them part of some super secret society of sorcerers and sorceresses.

Harry had been nine when he'd been trapped in SAO and in all the memories he could recall from his life before he'd been trapped inside of the game, he'd never once seen any evidence that he was anything other than an unwanted and unloved boy and a burden to his relatives. There had been no turning any one's wig blue, no unexplained trips to the top of the school building, and no talkative pythons being released from the zoo.

His relatives had called him a freak and blamed everything on him but there was evidence enough that his 'freakishness' had been anything that stood out differently from the Dursleys and most of that was explainable by normal standards. His hair refused to sit neatly, he was too small for his age (mostly the fault of the Dursleys anyway), he had never been sick with the flu (or any other common illness), he was smarter than Dudley (an easy feat), and he'd been dumped on their doorstep by someone instead of being placed into foster care or in an orphanage after his parents died.

No, the only place Harry had ever known magic to exist was inside of SAO and he knew that the magic there had been created by the computer coding that was the building blocks of the entire program. Even the so called magic that Harry had inexplicably unlocked within the game behaved much as one would expect from a computer game and no different in Harry's mind than the unique skill of duel wielding that Kirito had unlocked at some point in the game. Kayaba had gifted little kernels of extras like that to a small handful of players within the game so it was to be expected that some form of magic had existed there above and beyond the magic that was the world of SAO.

The final strike against Dumbledore's credibility had been the claim that Harry's body had been locked into something called a magical stasis for two years in order to explain away the reason why he still looked like a nine year old (well truth be told, he looked more like an eight year old but that was because he was still so short and scrawny). Cryogenics was a field of study that Klein had once regaled Harry with when they'd gone out to celebrate the defeat of the Boss Monster on the forty-first floor. Klein had insisted that scientists had been researching for a way to preserve the human body for over a hundred years as a way of defeating time itself and if science couldn't prevent true aging, then how could magic?

And what reason would magic have to save someone like him when there were so many other people out there that he thought would have been more worthy of magical healing and protection; Asuna, Kirito, Agil, Klein, and Lisbeth coming to mind.

Coupled with that was the fact that Dumbledore kept insisting that Harry's ability to feel pain was proof positive that he was not trapped in some game or illusion; Harry had been feeling pain and bleeding inside of a game since he'd reached level thirty. Agil had once suggested that because Harry hadn't properly had his NERDLES implanted that the device was malfunctioning and that the pain he felt had been the result. Agil's explanation was far more believable than Dumbledore's; even if it didn't explain why Harry bled when injured during a fight but it had explained the pain and possibly why items seemed more realistic when in Harry's hands.

The other five NPCs (the nurse and the four adults he'd learned were some kind of teachers) had unsurprisingly offered their assertions that the story was true, each one of them either claiming to have personally taught his parents how to use their magic or claiming to have gone to school with them. That was only to be expected though since they were all part of the same game and apparently were all programmed to work out of the same business, or in this case the same school.

Learning that he would be trapped within the castle for at least seven years had been terrifying but after a while he began wondering if there would be pre-programmed time skips in order to speed the game along. It just didn't seem realistic enough to force players to play through each and every day of a seven year education in magical arts. Then again, the more he learned about the game, the more he began wondering if it was some kind of on-line prison for criminals in order to save money on housing them since it would be easier to lock a murderer up in a hospital bed and let his brain occupy itself than it would be to lock up the man himself where he could harm others out in the real world if he escaped.

It seemed like the kind of place that the Dursleys would have sent Harry to in any event; especially upon learning he'd been the one to steal the gaming equipment from the rubbish bin.

And so, here he was, waiting for the staff member that had been assigned to guide him through the first steps of the game so that he might start working his way through the required quests in order to beat the game. He'd spent all night hunting through his menu for a backdoor out but hadn't been able to find one, so it was either allow them to lock him up in some sort of virtual mental institution for refusing to play the game or play the game until he found another way out. So long as he was somewhat free to move about, he could always look for another human player in order to get more information on the game or a system door that would allow him to escape; since there was still no logout function.

So he reluctantly chose to play along in the hopes that he could find a way out.

The moment he'd resigned himself to muddling his way through yet another game, two new bars had shimmered into existence below his gold HP Bar; a green one labeled as HP and a blue one labeled as MP. A quick check of his Stats page let him know that the original gold HP Bar was now an indication of his overall Health, the green one would track his physical health (or Hit Points), and the blue one kept track of the magic he had available (Magic Points). The amounts of all three bars were currently listed as incalculable and hinted that whatever glitch had messed up his classification and HP in SAO was still affecting him in the new game.

A knock at the door brought Harry to his feet as he turned to meet his escort who turned out to be a young woman with long, silky black hair and light brown eyes that looked to be in her early thirties. She wore black robes (that looked more like a dress on her), high heeled boots that just barely peeked out from beneath the robes, and the stereotypical witch's hat upon her head. Harry supposed she could be considered pretty and if he'd been there, Klein probably would have tried to hit on her; a thought that actually made Harry smile sadly for the briefest of moments before he gave the newest NPC in this game his full attention.

"Good morning, Mr. Potter, I am Professor Sinistra," the woman informed him as she held out her hand for Harry to shake only for her to awkwardly drop it when he ignored the hand. "I teach Astronomy here at Hogwarts and because all of my classes take place in the evenings, I was asked to escort you to Diagon Alley this morning so that you might purchase your school supplies. Do you have the supply list Professor McGonagall left with you yesterday?"

"Yes," Harry replied as he opened his player menu to materialize the list in question so he would have it on hand. "Will I need to worry about us running into any monsters on our journey to the market town?"

"No, I'll be apparating us directly to the entrance to Diagon Alley in order to save time and to prevent you from getting lost since you have no experience with traveling through the Floo. The only creatures you'll need to worry about around here are the ones living within the Forbidden Forest; which is why students are prohibited from exploring the forest. If you will follow me…"

Harry reluctantly accepted the automated party invitation that the system sent him so that even if he did get separated from his guide he'd be able to locate her fairly quickly; which was standard procedure when starting a quest led by an NPC. As the woman led the way out of the castle, Harry allowed his eyes to take in the prison he'd potentially spend the next seven years in; taking in the walking suits of armor, floating ghosts, and moving portraits.

Harry wasn't really impressed; Aincrad had had far more magnificent buildings and an endless number of fantastical and deadly Dungeons spread throughout the entire virtual universe and each floor had held entire worlds filled equally with wonders and horrors.

* * *

**Game Terminology:**

Aincrad – **A**n **Inc**arnating **Rad**ius (the name of the Castle that is SAO)  
Dungeon – an area within the game where players can attack or be attacked by monsters (or other players)  
HP – **H**it **P**oints: the number of Life Force/Life Points/Health Points a person has  
MP – **M**agic **P**oints  
Nerve Gear – equipment created by Kayaba Akihiko (Argus); allows the user to enter FullDive  
NERDLES – **Ner**ve **D**irect **L**inkage **E**nvironment **S**ystem (a surgically implanted chip that allows the FullDive system to interface with the brain – the surgically implanted part may or may not be canon as it was something I thought seemed more logical than it just being part of the interface helmet)  
NPC – **N**on-**P**layer **C**haracter  
Player Stats – A list of a player's in game statistics and skills  
SAO – **S**word **A**rt **O**nline  
Solo Player – a player that moves through the game alone

* * *

Harry's New Game Data/Stats Page (upon waking):

**Classification:** Unsorted  
**Level:** First Year  
**Student Rank:** -  
**Health:** Incalculable  
**HP:** Incalculable  
**MP:** Incalculable  
**Pet:** None  
**Special Titles:** -  
**Wallet:** Empty

**Main Equipment:**

Hospital Gown – Basic Clothing with no special capabilities

**Skills:** (Levels – Basic, Intermediate, Advanced, Proficient, & Mastered)

**Magical Knowledge:**

None

**Spell Casting:**

None

**Practical Skills:**

None


	11. Contrariness

**Disclaimer:** _Usually I write out this very specific disclaimer explaining exactly what it is I don't own but I find myself not really interested in doing so as it is very tedious. Suffice it to say I own nothing that was created by anyone else and I am making no money whatsoever from the writing of this FanFiction._

**Warnings:** _Mild to moderate violence, character death, foul language, alternate universe (i.e. kiss HP canon goodbye), angst, drama, starts pre-Hogwarts Era, and who knows what else. _

**AN:** _This story is self-beta'd; so there may be occasional grammatical or spelling errors that crop up every now and then and for those I apologize in advance._

* * *

Chapter Eleven: Contrariness

_Friday, November 19, 2021 8:28 AM_

Albus stood in front of his office window staring down at the castle grounds as Aurora Sinistra led the diminutive Harry Potter off of the grounds; the young professor escorting the child to Diagon Alley so that he could purchase his school supplies. The wizard's shoulders sagged as he thought back to his interactions with the young child and felt again the weight of the mistake he'd made in placing the child with his only remaining blood relatives. A sigh escaped his lips as he wondered again what the child had experienced over the past two years while his soul had been trapped somewhere outside of his body and worried about the apparent insanity that the poor boy had developed due to the separation of body and soul.

The child's insistence that life was some sort of game he had to complete was disturbing and Dumbledore had not missed the skeptical look in Harry's eyes the night before as he'd tried to explain things properly to the boy. At the same time, the old wizard had been utterly fascinated with the mutations that Harry's magic had undergone since waking up. The child accessed his magic completely without any understanding of what it was and what it did and somehow forced it to physically manifest itself in order to interact with his environment.

Poppy had told him that the boy had vanished the clothes she'd given him that morning and then somehow made them appear on his body simply by touching the strange floating pages the boy created out of pure magic. Each time Albus found himself fascinated by the anomalies surrounding Harry Potter, the old man would feel guilt because it had been his mistakes that had led to the child's magic and mind becoming so twisted. He only prayed that Merlin and the Lady of the Lake would see fit to guide the child back to reality sometime soon or their world was doomed.

Sighing again, Albus turned away from the window as Aurora and the boy disappeared from view and returned to his desk to finish up the never ending piles of paperwork that were waiting for his attention.

* * *

_Friday, November 19, 2021 8:36 AM_

Harry coughed and shook off the nausea that had taken hold of him the moment the professor had transported them from just outside the school grounds to an empty alley in the middle of who-knew-where even as he jumped clumsily away from her. Even though the woman had frowningly proclaimed that the method of travel they had just used was similar to the Teleport function in SAO when Harry asked, he found that that couldn't be further from the truth. Harry would take teleportation over the so called apparation any day; he did not like feeling like he was being squished and stretched out through a straw.

"Are you alright, Mr. Potter?"

"I'm fine," Harry assured his soon to be professor as he shook off the last of the effects of the strange form of transport.

She nodded and pulled him over to a section of the wall directly across from the grimy back door of a pub called the Leaky Cauldron; completely ignoring his discomfort over the physical contact. She then removed a wooden rod (a device that he'd learned was called a wand) from her pocket and tapped one of the stones on the wall with the tip. Watching the wall peel itself out of the way brick by brick was rather fascinating but the long winding street that had been hiding behind the wall was rather boring.

It was also fairly crowded and reminded Harry of some of the shadier parts of Hajimari no Machi where low level players sold low quality goods for high prices in the hopes of getting rich quick by tricking the more naïve players or those desperate enough not to care that they were being cheated.

"Stay close to me, child," Professor Sinistra warned in a soft whisper as she clamped a hand on his shoulder once more, causing him to tense as he disliked people he didn't really know grabbing him. "Do not give anyone your name and do not wander off on your own. Not all witches and wizards are good people and your name will stir up more trouble than we need right now."

"Got it."

"Good. Our first destination is Gringotts Bank, the large white building up ahead where the street splits," Professor Sinistra continued with a slightly louder voice as she guided Harry along the street with the hand she kept on his shoulder. "Gringotts is run by goblins and it is important that you do not insult them as they are rather unfriendly creatures that can make your life miserable should you annoy them."

"Will they attack in hordes and do they have any weaknesses that can be easily exploited if they do decide to attack us once we enter the bank? Can they be killed easily or do you need a special weapon?"

"No, they will confiscate your vault and all of your money and make your life difficult. Their only true weakness is their love for gold and treasure and their pride and you are not allowed to kill them. The last thing we need is for you to incite another goblin rebellion because you dared to attack one or more of them."

"I won't attack anyone that doesn't attack me first," Harry stated flatly as he glanced up at the witch briefly.

"Somehow that doesn't sound as reassuring as you might have meant it to be," Professor Sinistra muttered under her breath as they reached the bank and climbed up the short flight of stairs leading to the entrance. "Please remain silent while I handle matters with the goblins; if you have any questions, I will answer them once we are finished with our business at the bank."

"Yes, ma'am."

Harry's first glimpse of a goblin had him wondering if the game's monster designer had lacked any true imagination because they looked nothing like the ugly and fear inducing Grim Goblins that had been found in the dungeons on floor sixty-eight of Aincrad. In fact, aside from being rather short and stocky, having very little hair, and having grayish-brown tinged skin the goblins could have easily passed as short humans with an unusual facial structure. The sharp looking axes, pikes, and swords they carried were of far more interest to the eleven year old and Harry wondered what Agil would make of some of the heavier looking war axes.

Recalling that Agil wasn't around and would probably never have the chance to appraise any of the weapons being openly carried by the goblin guards in the bank sent another wave of grief through Harry and he almost tripped over his feet when the tears he was holding back by sheer willpower clouded his vision. It took him several minutes to get his emotions under control and once he did it was to find himself being steered down a rough tunnel to a mining cart by the professor who in turn was being led by a goblin.

If not for his inner turmoil, Harry might have appreciated the cart ride since it was the closest thing to an amusement park ride he'd ever been on. At the end of the ride, he was more than a little confused when Professor Sinistra had given him a push into the vault the goblin had opened. The woman simply told him that it was his job to collect the money he would need to buy his supplies and that it wasn't appropriate for her to enter his vault without permission. That, of course, raised the question of how and when he'd been given a vault and why there was already so much wealth tucked inside of it when he hadn't earned any money in the new game as far as he knew.

He opened his mouth to ask those questions only to recall that the professor had asked him to hold his questions until they were finished. Sighing, Harry walked up to the nearest pile of gold, silver and bronze coins and watched as they shimmered before vanishing as his Inventory collected the money. He missed the gaping expression on the goblin escort's face as he opened the menu to confirm receipt of the money in his Inventory and noted that the form of currency used in this game had not been defined and added that question to the list of questions he needed to ask the woman. Hoping the several thousand coins he'd picked up would be enough to purchase all of his supplies; Harry backed away from the remaining piles and exited the vault.

On their way back up to the lobby of the bank, Harry caught the goblin eying him with an unreadable expression several times and when he recalled Professor Sinistra's warnings about the goblins being unpleasant and quick to cause trouble over any insult he shifted nervously. He worried that he might have offended the creature somehow and prayed that it was something that could be smoothed over. Recalling that Professor Sinistra had also said that gold and treasure were one of the only weaknesses that goblins had, Harry opened his Inventory and withdrew a single gold coin (still uncertain of how much it was worth) and offered the coin to the goblin once they climbed out of the cart along with a murmured thank you for his services.

Professor Sinistra bustled him out of the bank at that point, leaving behind a very confused and suspicious goblin as no wizard had ever tipped a goblin for the cart ride before (though a number of muggleborns often thanked them thinking that they'd fall over backwards for treating them with common courtesy). The goblin would then immediately dash off to see one of the managers to give his report on the strangeness that surrounded the Boy-Who-Lived. Outside of the bank, Harry was being led down the steps by an exasperated Sinistra.

"I thought I told you not to cause trouble?"

"I wasn't trying to cause trouble, the goblin was giving me funny looks and you said their weakness was gold so I gave him a piece of gold in the hopes that whatever I'd done to offend him wouldn't get me in trouble. How was I supposed to know that I wasn't supposed to do that? I never received a guide book for this stupid game so I'm walking blind here and if you want me to follow the rules, I first need to know those rules. You also told me to save my questions until we were done."

"This is not a game, child, this is life and you are going to get yourself killed or incarcerated if you don't learn to think before you act. In the mean time, ask your questions and I will do my best to answer them for you."

"Why did I already have a vault at the bank? Where did the money inside of it come from? What kind of currency are the coins supposed to be and how much are they worth? What can I expect to pay for the supplies I need and do I need to return to the bank to withdraw more money if I didn't take out enough?"

"The vault and a good portion of the money previously belonged to your parents and as their only child it now belongs to you. Some of the money was also awarded to you by the Ministry for your defeat of You-Know-Who as a child and the rest was left to you by a handful of witches and wizards upon their deaths because they'd had no remaining family and wished to give you their thanks for what you had done the night your parents died. Wizarding money is made up of gold galleons, silver sickles, and bronze knuts; one galleon is equal to seventeen sickles, one sickle is equal to twenty-nine knuts, and for reference one galleon is roughly equal to five pounds sterling. The total cost of your supplies should fall somewhere between thirty and fifty galleons at most, unless you waste money on useless frivolities. And yes, you will need to return to the bank if you wish to withdraw more funds."

By the time the professor finished answering Harry's questions, they'd reached their first store; a luggage store in order to purchase a trunk. Harry disliked the idea of having to carry around a trunk and had immediately questioned the store clerk about Bags of Holding instead since his Inventory was currently limited in space and mostly full with the Items that had been brought over with him from SAO. Learning that the new game had a bag with near unlimited space and no weight limits was enough to interest Harry and he readily purchased a messenger bag made from dragon hide that was a deep copper in color, lined inside with heavy canvas, and spelled with what the clerk called an Undetectable Expansion Charm, a Feather Weight Charm, and an Anti-theft Charm.

Professor Sinistra had pursed her lips and nearly scowled over Harry's stubbornness but let the purchase stand since he had paid the twelve galleons for the bag before she could intervene (seven galleons more than he'd have needed to pay for a standard school trunk). The rest of their shopping trip took about three hours (two hours longer than necessary) as Harry carefully inspected and appraised each piece of equipment before he even considered purchasing it. He refused to buy anything that would easily break after a few uses because it could get him seriously injured or it could get him killed since he wasn't certain on whether or not his status as an Immortal Object had carried over to the new game since the player classification on his new stat page for the current game was listed as unsorted.

There'd been a brief scene in the book store when Harry determinedly stood his ground in the face of the woman's disapproval over the number and types of books he'd decided to purchase that were not on the book list that had been provided for him. He refused to back down though; he needed the information the books could potentially provide if he hoped to beat this latest game and find the others. He didn't see what the big deal was anyway; it was supposedly his own money that he was spending so he should be able to decide how he was to spend that money. She finally threw her arms up in defeat and stomped away to wait for him by the door so she could take him to get his wand next.

"That is everything," Professor Sinistra declared in a tone filled with more than a little relief as Harry placed his wand in his Inventory and paid the man who ran the store (being fitted for said wand had been a rather trying experience that Harry preferred to forget). "Unless, of course, you are interested in purchasing a pet?"

"Is having a pet a requirement or a personal preference? Is there any advantage in having a pet? Are there any specific skills required in order to obtain a pet?"

"Pets are strictly optional and aside from the sentimental value they represent, most pets do not give a student any advantage over those students that don't have a pet. However, taking an owl as a pet does allow you to send and receive mail without having to depend on whether or not one of the school's owls are available to send out any letters you might wish to write. So, you might say that it is advantageous to own an owl if you intend to send out regular correspondence. The only skills required are common sense and the ability to feed your pet and clean up after it when necessary."

Five minutes later, Harry was browsing through the various cages and tanks in the Magical Menagerie while Professor Sinistra waited for him outside of the stop. He wasn't certain he really wanted an owl but the idea of having a loyal companion appealed to the lonely boy (since he had no idea how long he'd be trapped in this new game and had no intentions of befriending anyone). He was nearing the back of the store where the birds were kept when his attention was caught by a creature half hidden behind a branch in a large terrarium that was twice Harry's height and as wide as he was tall.

What little he could see of the creature was a bright iridescent scarlet in color and covered in an interesting combination of scales and feathers. As he moved closer to the glass cage, he watched as what looked like an eagle's foot covered with tiny scarlet scales and tipped with sharp silver talons languidly stretched out before disappearing beneath the bulk of the body once more. Curious, Harry leaned to the left in order to get a better look at the creature only for it to suddenly lift its head from where it had been hidden beneath another leafy branch and stare right at Harry with glittering black eyes that were filled with intelligence.

The creature had what looked like the head of an eagle covered with scarlet colored thumbnail sized scales with what looked like soft, downy feathers growing out from underneath them (much like the rest of the body). The creature's head was connected to a long sinuous and serpentine neck that vividly reminded Harry of the three wyverns he'd faced in SAO and topped with a long silver and scarlet feathered crest (similar to a cockatoo's, only much longer).

"Beautiful creature, is she not?" the store clerk declared as he stepped up beside Harry once he'd seen what had caught his attention and in the hopes of steering him towards another animal in an effort to make a sale. "She is a dwarf occamy from southern India; very rare and very difficult to catch. This one was hatched from the only surviving egg in a clutch of occamy eggs that had been illegally imported into the country just over a year ago. Legends state that only a powerful wizard can tame an occamy because they are drawn to powerful magic but most believe that is a myth since there have been rumors of a squib hatching out and raising a small colony of the creatures in Japan. Best set your sights on a different critter though, boy; she's a right nasty piece of work and out of your price range I would imagine."

As if to put lie to the man's declaration, the sinuous creature stretched out and slowly walked out from behind the branch that had been blocking the bulk of her body to lean against the glass as she continued to hold Harry's gaze. The little female then began to croon softly as she spread out her wings and tilted her head to the side as if to ask Harry if he liked what he saw. He took the opportunity she provided to note that she was close to two feet in length from the tip of her beak to the tip of her scarlet and silver feathered tail with her body thickening near the center where her legs met her body. Harry smiled at the creature's antics all the while wondering if it would be classified as a bird, a serpent, or a type of wyvern given the blend of body parts and structure.

"She's the most beautiful creature I have ever seen," Harry breathed as he inspected the silvery scales that ran down the creature's belly; his words and appreciating glance eliciting a crooning hum of approval and satisfaction from the occamy. "How much are you asking for her?"

"I can't in good conscience sell her to you as you are far too young to care for…"

"How much?"

"Three hundred galleons and your parents would need to be the ones to actually purchase her on your behalf."

"My parents are dead and I was given permission by a Hogwarts' professor to purchase a companion before I return to the castle in order to start my lessons. I'll take her."

"I don't think…"

"There is no need for you to think. I am here to purchase a companion and she is the companion I have chosen to purchase. I have the amount you are asking plus enough to purchase any supplies needed to care for her and that is all you need to know."

"Fine but if she claws your eyes out and dines on your heart while you scream don't come running to me for a refund," the clerk grouched irritably as he rang up the sale and irritably accepted Harry's money.

Harry ignored the NPC's dire pronouncements as he gathered up a depressingly thin guide book on how to care for his new pet, a sturdy perch for her to sit on, and a dozen white feeder rats (non-magical) after checking the guide book to see what kind of diet occamies ate. The clerk had then grabbed a travel cage and a pair of thick gloves before he unlocked the door to the cage in order to transfer the creature into the cage. The occamy dodged the man's hands and dove out of the glass enclosure before she flew herself up to Harry's left shoulder, promptly wrapped her tail around Harry's neck, and propped her head on top of Harry's head.

The clerk stared at Harry for a full minute before he shook his head and walked away muttering under his breath about insane brats and annoying creatures giving him headaches.

"You certainly made quite an impression on the man, beautiful," Harry declared with a soft laugh as he stepped outside of the store where Professor Sinistra was waiting for him.

The woman took one look at Harry's new companion and stuttered, "Th…that's not an owl!"

"Correct, she's much better than any old owl in my opinion."

"Only owls, cats, or toads are permitted as pets at the school," Professor Sinistra protested.

"I'm not returning her and if I am not allowed to keep her with me, then I will not return to the school with you. You did not mention a restriction on the type of companion I could purchase before you sent me into the store alone and she is the only companion I found suitable and I refuse to be told what kind of creature I can or can't be allowed to keep."

"I don't get paid enough to deal with your stubbornness," Professor Sinistra deadpanned as she reached up to massage her temples as if to ward off a headache. "Headmaster Dumbledore can deal with you and your new pet. One word of precaution; bring her to my classes and I will deduct house points and assign detentions as I will not allow her presence to disrupt my classes. Do you understand?"

"Perfectly, professor."

"Good. We're officially finished here."

As the woman grabbed hold of his wrist and dragged him back towards the entrance to the market place, the soft crooning of the occamy filled his ears and soothed some of the aching loneliness that had filled him since he'd woken up several days earlier. Unconsciously, Harry began humming softly in response; his boyish tones easily harmonizing with those of the occamy as her crooning swelled in volume in response to his hums; their impromptu duet drawing attention from nearby witches and wizards that either stared at him in disbelief or ran in fear once they realized he was carrying an unfettered occamy on his shoulder.

Ten minutes later, the two of them were once again standing just outside of the gates of Hogwarts and Harry was once again trying not to vomit from the unpleasant mode of transportation the woman used. Being stretched out like a rubber band and pulled through a straw the size of a shish kabob skewer was never fun as far as Harry was concerned. The occamy hadn't enjoyed the experience either if her irritated hisses were anything to go by.

They were met on the steps leading up into the castle turned school by Professor McGonagall (one of the NPCs that had supposedly taught his parents) and Headmaster Dumbledore. Both NPCs had paled slightly the moment they got a good look at the creature seated on Harry's shoulder but neither of them remarked upon the occamy's presence to Harry's surprise; he would have expected at one of them to make a fuss about the non-standard pet based upon the reaction the occamy's presence had solicited from Professor Sinistra.

"Please follow me, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall instructed as she flicked her eyes to the occamy's head where it was once again propped on Harry's head before gesturing for him to follow her into the castle. "I will be taking you to be sorted into a house before you join the rest of the students for lunch. After the meal, your new Head of House will see to it that you are settled in your assigned dorm, provide you with a class schedule, and introduce you to one or more students of his or her choice who will help you catch up on the curriculum that you missed while you were indisposed."

"Thank you for taking me to gather my supplies, Professor Sinistra; it was a most informative expedition," Harry stated as he opened his menu and ended his party with the dark haired woman before accepting the automated party invitation from Professor McGonagall.

As he stepped into the castle, he heard the woman loudly start complaining to the Headmaster, "Never again, Albus! The entire trip was a nightmare! He spoke of killing goblins, he stubbornly refused to get a trunk, questioned the quality of each and every piece of equipment he purchased, demanded to be allowed to purchase a ridiculous number of non-school related books, and you saw the creature he came out of the store with!"

"It sounds like you had a productive morning, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall dryly quipped with a trace of amusement coloring her voice.

"It was a trying morning but I suppose I can't complain too loudly knowing that the end result was finding my beautiful friend here. I had not expected to find such a lovely companion when I had left this morning; do you know if occamies are related to wyverns or dragons in this world?"

"I am not aware of a connection between those creatures; your best bet would be to ask Professor Kettleburn, who is the professor of the Care of Magical Creatures class or Hagrid, who is the school's gamekeeper."

"Thank you for the suggestions, I will seek out one of them first chance I get. Can you tell me more about the houses you and the others keep mentioning?"

"You're welcome, Mr. Potter, it is always nice to see our students taking an interest in learning; even if the subject in question is rather obscure," Professor McGonagall replied with the slightest upturning of her mouth that Harry thought might be her attempt at a smile. "As for the school houses, there are a total of four houses into which all students are sorted based up their personalities and they are called…"

Harry listened attentively as McGonagall explained how the house system worked and what would be expected of him once he'd been sorted into a house. She then went on to list the school rules that he would be expected to follow (which included a few that only applied to his pet since her species was well known to be highly aggressive) and the typical punishments he could expect to face for breaking the various rules. It was a lot of information to take in and Harry hoped that the book that had been recommended by the store clerk, _Hogwarts; A History_, would have the same information so that he could use it as a reference later on.

By the time she'd finished speaking, the two of them were standing in front of a six foot tall gargoyle that jumped to the side when the older woman provided the proper password. Behind the gargoyle was a spiral staircase that moved much like an escalator the moment the two of them stepped onto the stairs. At the top, there was a door that led into a large office where they found Headmaster Dumbledore sitting behind a large desk piled high with paperwork. Harry briefly wondered how the man had gotten there first before he figured that there were bound to be shortcuts within the castle (unless the man had multiple avatars that were distributed throughout the castle so that he could be everywhere at once).

Letting his eyes sweep through the room, he noticed that there were several tables with spindly legs sitting up against the walls (their surfaces filled with an assortment of strange silver gadgets) and a large bookshelf stuffed full of old tomes behind the desk. To the right of the door he'd entered through was a large free standing cabinet while to the left was a tall perch upon which sat what looked like a red swan. If Harry had not seen the occamy first, he'd have been tempted to call the red bird one of the most beautiful creatures in this new world.

Unfortunately for the bird, Harry's new companion was far more beautiful in his eyes. When the red bird showed an immediate interest in Harry, the occamy lifted her head and gave out a single warning hiss that had the bird immediately losing all interest in the eleven year old. _Ah, beautiful is the jealous type,_ Harry thought to himself as he ran a hand over the occamy's feathered tail-tip that was tapping out an irritated tempo against his neck. _I'll have to remember that, least I upset her needlessly by showing any interest in the other creatures and pets that reside in the castle. Of course, that also means she'll probably be far more willing to help me take down this game's monsters.  
_

"Have a seat, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall instructed as she pointed to a stool sitting in front of the desk.

Harry sat down and frowned when the woman picked up a tattered old hat and placed it over his head; dislodging the occamy in the process (the sinuous creature letting out another irritated hiss as she moved down onto his lap). He growled softly when the hat sank down to his shoulders and he would have ripped it off of his head if not for the small voice that began speaking to him. Confused, he tilted his head to one side and carefully listened to the unseen speaker.

"_Well now, isn't this a surprise; I rarely ever sort students once the term has started. And oh what a child you are. You will shake our world right to its foundations; I have no doubts about that. Hmm, but before you can turn the world on its ears, I must first determine where you belong._"

"What do you mean? Who are you?"

"_I am the sorting hat and it is my job to place you in the house that best suits you. You are ambitious and cunning enough to do well in Slytherin but you'd soon terrify the entire house the first time they attempted to pull you into their inner house politics. You are loyal and hardworking enough for Hufflepuff but your loyalty is too hard to win and you would be easily annoyed by their excessive friendliness and end up alienating them when you continued to rebuff them._"

"_You are intelligent but dislike having your privacy invaded and you'd feel trapped in Ravenclaw as you'd be surrounded by an entire house of avid researchers that would wish to analyze every little thing about you which would have you lashing out more so than you already do. I guess that means there is only one place left for me to put you. Do try not to tear down the entire school when you start shaking the foundations of the world, Mr. Potter._"

Harry was still trying to puzzle out what the hat meant when he heard it call out Gryffindor loud enough for the other two people in the office to hear. The hat was removed from his head a moment later and he found Professor McGonagall giving him a small smile that held a trace of smugness in it that confused him. He only had a brief second to take in the new red and gold trim his clothes were now sporting before the ancient wizard that ran the school spoke up and broke the silence.

"Congratulations, Harry, my boy, I'm certain that you'll make a fine Gryffindor," Dumbledore intoned while his blue eyes twinkled. "Do you have any questions that you'd like to have answered right now? No? Then let us head down to the Great Hall so that you might join your peers for the afternoon meal."

* * *

**Game Terminology:**

Aincrad – **A**n **Inc**arnating **Rad**ius (the name of the Castle that is SAO)  
NPC – **N**on **P**layer **C**haracter  
SAO – **S**word **A**rt **O**nline


End file.
